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

Visitation is almost certainly available at Catahoula Correctional Center, but rights is a word worth unpacking because visitation in the correctional system is more accurately described as a privilege that has to be applied for and approved rather than an automatic entitlement. Both you and your husband have a role in the process. On his end, he can add approved visitors through the facility's system. On your end, you need to submit a visitation application to the facility and pass a...

Cyberstalking is not a charge that typically triggers the kind of inmate retribution that certain other offenses do. The categories that get someone targeted inside, particularly sex crimes against children, are specific and well-known. A cyberstalking conviction without any child victim element does not fall into those categories and is unlikely to make you a target on that basis alone. That said, the single most important piece of advice for any federal inmate, regardless of their charge, is this: do not...

Being recently released from the same facility your husband is currently in puts you in one of the more unusual visitation situations, but it is not an automatic disqualification and there is a clear path to getting approved. The standard policy at most correctional facilities restricts visitation by people with recent incarceration history, particularly at the same facility. The concern is primarily about the connections and relationships formed inside and the potential for those to create security risks during a visit....

Tablet rollout timelines are set by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and vary by facility. The most direct way to get a current answer is to call Five Points Correctional Facility and ask to speak with the unit secretary. The number is 607-869-5111. They will have the most accurate and up to date information on where the facility stands in the tablet distribution process. New York has been rolling out JPay tablets across its state prison...

The facility is correct and the protocol they cited is real. Correctional facilities operate largely without accountability to outside parties, and when a disciplinary situation is underway they have no obligation to discuss it with anyone on the outside, including family members and partners. The lieutenant declining to speak with you about it is standard procedure, not a personal decision. Here is what is actually happening on your person's end. When an inmate is placed in the hole following a fight,...

Missouri follows the 85 percent rule for most offenses, which means the expectation going in is serving at least 85 percent of the sentence before release eligibility. On a 5-year sentence that works out to roughly 51 months, or about 4 years and 3 months. The concurrent designation on his record is actually good news. CC or concurrent means the sentences for multiple charges are running simultaneously rather than consecutively. If he had multiple charges stacked on top of each other...

Do you know why he is in the SHU? The reason behind being in solitary would probably answer why it's taking so long. When I was in the SHU, there was a guy there for 11 months awaiting a transfer. He was caught with a cellphone and had to do 18 months in the SHU before they would transfer him to a higher custody prison. Administrative makes me think that he might have asked to be taken out of the...

Possibly, and the fact that you are the child's parent rather than a random person with a felony record is your strongest argument for getting approved. Most correctional facilities have an automatic restriction on visitors with felony convictions, and Potomac Correctional Center in West Virginia follows standard West Virginia DOC visitation policy which includes that restriction. The standard process does not approve felons for visitation without additional review. That is the baseline you are working against. However, the parent of an inmate's...

The honest answer is that you often will not know in advance, and that is by design rather than by accident. Prison transfers are not announced ahead of time to inmates or their families. The facility does not want anyone on the outside knowing when a transfer is happening because advance knowledge creates opportunities for interference, escape attempts, or security complications during transport. Your husband will likely be woken up early one morning, told to gather his property, and moved out...