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

Graduating from a correctional drug and alcohol treatment program is a significant milestone and in many cases it is directly tied to release, but the exact timing depends on how the program completion interacts with the underlying sentence. In some systems, particularly for sentences where the treatment program itself was the condition of a suspended or deferred sentence, graduation triggers release processing almost immediately. In others, program completion is a prerequisite for parole consideration rather than an automatic release, meaning the...

Yes, and this is standard policy at most correctional facilities across the country. A brief hug and a light kiss are permitted when your inmate enters the visiting room at the start of the visit and again when the visit ends. That physical greeting and goodbye is considered a normal part of the visitation experience and corrections staff expect it. The key word is brief. A light kiss and a gentle hug that lasts a few seconds falls well within what...

InmateAid has a database of inmates that are created by the members of the site for their use in maintaining communication with their loved one. We have made the website a unique "one-stop shop" for anything to do with an inmate, before they go in, once they are there and when they leave. Anyone can log onto InmateAid.com and create a profile. We have some inmates with dozens of profiles that are there for their own use, not necessarily for everyone....

A status of "not in BOP custody" with an unknown release date does not mean he has been released. It means he is in custody somewhere that is not a Bureau of Prisons operated facility. This status typically appears in a few specific situations. The most common is when someone is being held in a county jail or a US Marshals holding facility awaiting sentencing, designation, or a court appearance. Until the BOP formally designates an inmate to a specific federal...

InmateAid is legitimate and has been operating since April 2012. Over that time it has grown to serve more than one million people per month, which is a scale that reflects a track record of consistent, reliable delivery rather than a fly-by-night operation. The letter and photo service works exactly as described. When you place an order, it goes immediately to a third-party processing facility that prints and mails your letter the same day if ordered before 5pm Eastern time. Your...

The Presentence Investigation Report cannot be amended after sentencing. That document is finalized and sealed as part of the court record, and there is no standard process for going back to add information that was withheld or omitted at the time of the original interview. The advice your husband received from his attorney to withhold substance abuse history was poorly considered and has created a real problem. RDAP eligibility in the federal system requires documented evidence of a substance abuse disorder,...

Absolutely, and the mundane details you are hesitant to share are often exactly what inmates appreciate most. Life inside is stripped of everything ordinary. The same walls, the same faces, the same routine day after day creates a kind of sensory and experiential deprivation that makes the normal details of outside life feel genuinely meaningful rather than trivial. A new dog, a Christmas gathering, what the weather has been like, a funny thing that happened at the grocery store, all of...

Yes. The phone service at EVERY prison or jail is controlled by one company (there are 25 competing for the contract). They set the rates and you HAVE to use them. What InmateAid does is get a different phone number that we know will reduce the price (using their pricing model as our guide). In some cases, the local call is the cheapest, in others an out of state call is less than any number inside the same state (it's...

No, and this particular rumor follows a pattern that repeats inside federal facilities with remarkable consistency and remarkable inaccuracy. Federal parole was eliminated over 25 years ago under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and it is not coming back. The current political and institutional environment makes a return to federal parole even less likely than it has been in recent years. Incarceration at the federal level operates on a $7 billion annual budget, it is deeply embedded in the institutional...

The 31-day figure you were given is plausible and here is why it matters legally. Interstate detainers operate under specific rules governing how long one state can hold someone on behalf of another. Under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers and related state laws, the requesting state has a limited window to come and take custody of the person once they are being held. If Virginia placed a detainer and the local jurisdiction is holding him on Virginia's behalf, Virginia has to...

Waiting for a call is not your only option. You can get information directly from the facility if you approach it the right way. Call the facility and ask to speak with your inmate's counselor. That is the person most likely to have specific information about the SHU placement, including why it happened, what the disciplinary finding was, and how long the placement is expected to last. Counselors manage the caseloads for their assigned housing units and have access to disciplinary...

Lewis Prison, formally the Lewis Complex, is an Arizona Department of Corrections facility in Buckeye and there are several reliable options for getting money onto your inmate's books. The three most commonly used services are JPay, MoneyGram, and Western Union. All three are established platforms that process inmate deposits and each charges a transaction fee that varies based on the amount being sent and the payment method you use. The fees are comparable across the three services but can differ enough...