Ask The Inmate. Real answers from people who've been there.

His account balance is considered personal financial information and falls under the same privacy protections that cover everything else about an inmate's record. The facility is not required to share it with anyone outside, including parents, and most of the time they will not. That said, calling the counselor is your best shot at getting any information at all, and how you approach that call matters more than most people realize. Come in as a concerned, cooperative parent who is trying...

For possession of child pornography, house arrest is not a realistic outcome regardless of health status or lack of prior criminal history. Federal law and most state statutes treat child pornography offenses as serious felonies with mandatory minimum sentences that require incarceration. A clean record and genuine remorse factor into sentencing to some degree, but they do not move the needle far enough to result in house arrest on these charges. Judges have very limited discretion to deviate from the...

FPC, or Federal Prison Camp would be without question considered the best way to do prison time. There are no fences, no cells, the living arrangements are similar to an army barracks where there are rows of bunk beds and lockers. They share a common bathroom and laundry room. All inmates have are required to have a prison job. Orderlies clean the areas, landscaping the property, some work in recreation, education, the library, the chapel, commissary, the chow hall. None of...

This first depends on where yopur inmate is incarcerated. InmateAid has a listing of the correct phone service matched to every facility. Remember, there are no replacements for the services at the prison or jail, the company with the contract is running the phone system with competition. They get to make the rates. That is where InmateAid comes in. We have done the hard work of knowing what phone line gets the lowest price. It used to be that local lines were...

No, the money does not follow them automatically and it will not be waiting in an account at the new facility. Here is what actually happens. Before transport, or shortly after arrival at the new facility, the inmate will be asked to provide a mailing address where the remaining balance from their old account can be sent. That money gets issued as a check mailed to whoever they designate, typically a family member on the outside. It does not move electronically...

The number is there, it just may not be where you looked first. Here are the two places to check. The first is your MyAccount area on the InmateAid website. Log in and navigate to your account dashboard. The phone number assigned to your account is listed there and is accessible any time you need to reference it. The second place is your email inbox. An automated email with your number was sent at the time of signup. If you do not...

Yes, and the process for doing it is more straightforward than most people expect. What you are looking for is called a special visit. Facilities have a formal mechanism for approving visitation outside of the standard scheduled days, and out of state travel is exactly the kind of circumstance that warrants one. Wardens and their staff deal with these requests regularly and understand that not everyone lives close enough to work around a Friday and Saturday only window. The right move is...

Yes, and that is exactly how it is supposed to work. InmateAid does not replace IC Solutions. It never does. Whatever carrier holds the contract at your son's facility, whether that is IC Solutions, Securus, GTL, or any of the others, that carrier stays in place. Every call your son makes still runs through IC Solutions because they are the exclusive provider at that facility. That monopoly does not change. What InmateAid changes is the number your son dials to reach you....