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

The new visitation week starts on Monday. That means your visit count resets at the beginning of each Monday and you have a fresh set of visits available for the week running Monday through Sunday. If you visited on Wednesday and Saturday last week, both of those counted against last week's allotment. Starting Monday you are clear to schedule visits again according to whatever the facility allows per week. A couple of things worth confirming directly with Brazos County Detention Center before...

Yes, SMART (Stress Management and Rehabilitation Training) is a prison-based program designed to teach inmates how to manage their stress, aggression, and trauma, building a foundation for a new life. The SMART objective is to make a life-transforming difference in the lives of all people within the criminal justice system, by teaching skills for reducing stress, healing trauma, and providing practical knowledge of how to handle one’s emotions, live to one’s highest potential and contribute to society. SMART aims to reduce offender recidivism...

It could take up to a week or so to gain approval. The facility normally does not notify you when you are approved. It is your inmate's responsibility to let you know. There are a couple of different types of visitation for inmates: Video visitation is becoming more common and in some instances can be done from the comfort of your own home.  Video visitation works similar to the way you would use Facetime or Skype.  Non-contact or telephone visitation is when you...

Two weeks without contact from someone who normally calls every few days is worth following up on, and calling the facility directly is exactly the right move. When you call, ask to be connected to one of the following people in this order of likelihood to be helpful: the unit secretary, the counselor assigned to his unit, his case manager, or the warden's office. The unit secretary and counselor are often the most accessible and the most willing to share basic...

Yes, he can and should ask. Work assignments in prison are not automatically carried over when an inmate moves to a different housing unit, even within the same facility. The assignment is often tied to the unit or to a specific supervisor's roster, and a dorm transfer can break that connection regardless of conduct or performance. The first step is for him to speak with his new unit's case manager or counselor and express his interest in getting a work assignment....

The release process from an Arizona state prison involves several steps, and where you will be living is one of the first things that gets verified before the door opens. For most people releasing from Arizona Department of Corrections facilities including those in the Tucson complex, there is a period of supervised release following the prison term. Arizona calls this community supervision, and it functions similarly to parole in other states. The conditions of that supervision are set based on the...