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

FCI Jesup does offer RDAP, the Residential Drug Abuse Program, which is the most significant sentence reduction program available in the federal system. Completing RDAP takes a full 12 months off the sentence and adds an automatic six months of halfway house placement on the back end. For eligible inmates at Jesup, that is the most powerful tool available for shortening actual time served. Eligibility is the critical factor and it is determined entirely by the Presentence Investigation Report submitted to...

Setting up InmateAid's discount phone service does not require finding your inmate in the system or knowing their inmate ID number. The phone service works differently from the letter and photo service in this regard. All you need to get started is the name of the facility where your inmate is housed and your own phone number, the one you want calls forwarded to. InmateAid's system uses those two pieces of information to analyze the phone carrier's rate structure at that...

Absolutely, 100% as long as you selected the correct facility. But even if there was a mistake, or the inmate got transferred, InmateAid will resend the mail again at no charge. The Company has served over fifty million users since 2012.  Read the testimonials, there was one that should give you great comfort: "My nephew was recently moved from a facility to a new one but I had just sent an electronic postcard to the old one & inmateAID forwarded it...

The short answer is "yes", but there is a little more to it. One of the reasons InmateAid offers the Greeting Cards service is that the process follows strict guidelines for incoming mail. Most store-bought cards have glitter or other affixings that might cause it to be rejected in the mail room of the prison. The selection of cards on InmateAid are delivered on a postcard that meets the standards of every facility in the US. For 99 cents each,...

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...

Do not deposit or cash the check yourself. It is not yours to negotiate, even with good intentions, and doing so could create a legal problem you do not want. The right process is to contact his counselor at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center and explain the situation. Tell them his paycheck arrived and you want to get it deposited into his commissary or phone account. The facility will instruct you to send the unsigned check directly to them. Once...

If this is a state charge, you can contact the Clerk of the Court in the county where they were arrested. If this is a federal charge, you can Google your inmate's name with the word "indictment" to see the FBI's statement on the charges. They love to brag about their conquests so there is no lack of publicity.   If neither of these work, you can use a pay service that has the most accurate and up-to-date arrest information nationwide. That cost...

The honest answer, from someone who has been there, is that most inmates would want more from a pen pal relationship if they could have it. The environment of incarceration strips away so much that the arrival of a letter from someone who genuinely cares becomes disproportionately meaningful. That magnified significance can easily be mistaken for deep romantic connection on both sides. There is also something specific to being locked up that makes inmates more present, more thoughtful, and more emotionally...

Most do not survive, and the honest numbers are sobering. Very few relationships make it past the 18-month mark when a long sentence is involved, and the ones that do are genuinely the exception rather than the rule. What makes it harder to understand is that the breakdown does not always happen the way people expect. It is not always the person on the outside who walks away. Some of the most painful stories involve women who held it down completely,...

RDAP is not available at most federal detention centers, so the path to the program almost always involves a transfer to a facility that runs it. Here is how the math works and why the timing matters. RDAP is a nine-month residential program. Completing it earns a full 12 months off the sentence. On top of that, graduates receive an automatic six months of halfway house placement. Add those three numbers together and you get 27 months. That is why the...

There are no federal sentences that force an inmate into drug rehabilitation. Your inmate was NOT sentenced in federal court to do RDAP, if they get it it's great, but it's not a part of the sentence at all. It could be a recommendation but the Federal Bureau of Prisons makes all the decisions, the judge has nothing to do with it once they are property of the BOP. RDAP is voluntary, but if eligible, it is the only way to carve...