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

Being moved back to prison from a transitional center this close to a release date almost always means something happened that violated the conditions of the placement. Transitional centers and residential reentry facilities operate under strict rules specifically because the people there are in the final stage before full release. The conditions are more relaxed than prison but the expectations are non-negotiable. A violation of those conditions, whether a failed drug test, missing a curfew, unauthorized contact with someone prohibited by...

Inmates are not permitted direct internet access and cannot personally operate a Facebook or any other social media account from inside a correctional facility. What is happening is one of two things. Either someone on the outside is managing the account and posting or messaging on the inmate's behalf, or the inmate has access to a contraband device and is operating it themselves in violation of facility rules. Both situations are serious and both give you a path to address it. Start...

Surprise visits sound like a sweet idea but calling ahead first is always worth the few minutes it takes. Even if you are on the approved visitor list, several things can prevent a visit from happening on any given day. The facility may be on lockdown, visitation hours may have changed, your inmate may have lost visitation privileges due to a disciplinary issue, or the visiting room may be at capacity. Showing up with children after a long drive only to...

Prison has its own social hierarchy and moral code, and certain offenses sit at the bottom of it regardless of how the outside world views them. Crimes against women and children consistently rank among the most looked down upon within the inmate population. Domestic violence cases vary in how they are received depending on the specific circumstances. A situation involving a mutual altercation between adults is viewed differently from one involving severe abuse, serious injury, or children being present. The inmate...

Good time credit in Louisiana works similarly to most state systems but the specific impact on a release date depends heavily on the details of the sentence imposed and what conditions the judge included in the commitment order. The standard good time reduction is 15%, meaning an inmate who maintains a clean disciplinary record throughout their sentence serves about 85% of the total time. That calculation applies automatically and does not require any special arrangement. On top of that baseline, Louisiana...

The SHU, or Special Housing Unit, strips away most of what makes daily life manageable, but it does not eliminate all contact with the outside world. Mail continues to reach SHU inmates. That is one of the few privileges that survives a SHU placement largely intact, which makes letters and photos one of the most meaningful things you can send during this period. InmateAid can get a letter to your person without your home address on the envelope, and having something...

Being on probation disqualifies you from the standard visitor approval process, regardless of whether you are family or not. The background check that every visitor goes through flags active probation, parole, and felony convictions, and the result is an automatic denial through normal channels. The rule applies equally to family members and friends. A mother on probation faces the same barrier as a friend on probation. The relationship to the inmate does not change the underlying disqualification. That does not mean the...

First, the inmate is taken into custody by the correctional officers with handcuffs. They are transported or walked to the area called the Special Housing Unit (SHU), what others call "the hole", also known as solitary confinement. Once there they are stripped-searched and given new clothing to wear. This is a special uniform for SHU inmates, usually an orage jumpsuit with lightweight blue sneakers. They are then walked shackled to their cell. It is usually a one-man cell. There, there...

Yes, visitor approvals do not transfer between state prison systems. Each state runs its own independent approval process, and being approved in California has no bearing on your eligibility to visit in Arizona. You start the application process from scratch when an inmate moves to a different state's correctional system. Arizona's visitation application process differs from California's in one notable way. The Arizona Department of Corrections charges a fee for the visitor application, which covers the cost of the background check...

Whether you need to reapply depends on where your inmate is moving from and to, and the distinction matters practically. If your inmate moves within the same state correctional system, your visitor approval generally stays valid across facilities in that system. In Mississippi specifically, if your paperwork is on file with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and your inmate transfers from one MDOC facility to another, that approval travels with them. You do not need to start the process over every...