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

In most city and county jails, inmates are allowed to update their approved visitor list, but it is not always immediate and must follow the facility’s process. Your boyfriend can usually request to add or remove people from his list by submitting a form or making the change through his counselor or classification officer. Some facilities allow updates regularly, while others only allow changes during certain time periods. If someone is not on the approved list, they will not be allowed to visit,...

Reconnecting with a family member you have not seen in years while they are incarcerated takes patience but it is absolutely possible. Here is how both processes work. Phone calls The phone call process begins entirely on your brother's end. He must initiate everything. He submits your phone number to prison staff for approval and once approved he can call you directly from the facility phones. You cannot call him. There is no inbound call option at any correctional facility. Once his phone...

Sexual assault in federal prison is not common but it is a reality that deserves an honest answer rather than a dismissive one. Like sexual assault on the outside, many incidents inside go unreported. The reasons are similar, fear of retaliation, shame, distrust of the reporting process, and uncertainty about whether anything will change. The Prison Rape Elimination Act, known as PREA, was passed specifically to address this problem and requires all federal facilities to have reporting mechanisms, investigation protocols, and prevention...

You cannot call an inmate directly at Waupaca County Jail or any other jail or prison. All phone calls must be initiated by the inmate. This is a standard rule across correctional facilities. Inmates are the only ones allowed to place outgoing calls, and those calls are made through the jail’s approved phone system. As for cost, inmates are not charged just to receive a call since incoming calls are not allowed. The cost applies only when they place a call. Depending on how...

The short answer is "generally no". But the food is far from gourmet. In the county jails and state prisons, the meals are simple and heavy on carbohydrates (breads, pasta) and lots of weird looking bologna sandwiches. In the federal system, the meals are on a national schedule, for instance Wednesday lunch is "burger day". All things considered, the food is bearable, BUT it's nice to have money in your commissary to be able to supplement the food an inmate...