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

There will be some sort of form to fill out as you will probably need to somehow gain approval from the jail staff. You should call the facility to get the visiting days, the hours, the dress code and all the restrictions you want to know about ahead of arrival. If you know the name of the jail, look it up using our Prison Directory. Find the facility and click on the Visitation button on their page. The details should...

You do not have to wait. Send it now if you want to, and here is why. InmateAid has a standing policy that covers exactly this situation. If your inmate gets transferred and a letter, postcard, or any other item gets caught in the move and fails to reach them, InmateAid will resend or replace everything at no charge. No questions, no fees, no hassle. The only thing you need to do is let them know what happened. Send an email to...

Whether your letter follows your inmate to a new facility depends entirely on which systems are involved in the transfer. Here is how it actually works. If your inmate stays within the same system, the mail will get there. A federal inmate transferred from one federal facility to another, regardless of state, will eventually receive forwarded mail. The same applies to state systems. Mail sent to a state prison will follow an inmate to another state facility within the same department...

The process is simple. You wait in the parking lot and he comes out to you. There is no check-in process, no paperwork for you to complete, and no reason to go inside the facility. Release processing happens entirely on the inside. Staff complete the discharge paperwork, return his personal property, issue any remaining account balance, and walk him through the final administrative steps before he is released. When everything is finalized he walks out the door and you are right...

Family transport for an inmate transfer is not standard practice and has not been something commonly granted at federal camps, but the situation at minimum security camps is unique enough that it is worth asking directly. Federal prison camps house the lowest security level inmates in the Bureau of Prisons system, and that classification comes with privileges that do not exist at higher security levels. One of those is the possibility of unescorted travel for transfers. Rather than being transported in...

There are some real elements of the show that ring true. Orange has a number of outlandish characters who represent stereotypical versions of inmates audiences may think of when imagining a federal corrections institution. At first glance, Orange Is the New Black supposedly chronicles the typical journey through a female prison for a not-so-typical convict. However, a closer look at the United States federal corrections system makes it clear that InmateAid Twitter-follower and author of Orange Piper Chapman's stay in federal prison is a TV fantasy...

Commissary prices at Reception and Medical Center Lake Butler and Florida state facilities generally run about 15 to 20 percent higher than what you would pay at a standard retail store. That markup exists because the commissary is the only option available and the facility knows it. There is no competition and no alternative, so pricing reflects that reality. The product selection covers food items like ramen, chips, cookies, and canned goods, hygiene products including soap, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste, writing...

No one can answer that with certainty, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not being straight with you. What we can do is look at the situation clearly and talk about what actually protects people in your position. A conviction for murder combined with a subsequent protective order violation tells you something important: this is a person who has demonstrated both the capacity for lethal violence and a willingness to disregard legal boundaries meant to keep someone safe. That combination...

What exactly are you asking? Will he hurt you emotionally or hurt you physically? If we are talking emotional like,is he going to leave me when he gets out? There is a lot I can share on this subject if you write back. You know this person better than anyone. What signs are even causing you to ask. If we are talking physical, then the advice would be to seek shelter with someone you can trust, try to find a place...