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

No. When someone is revoked back to custody for a parole violation, the system makes clear that this is the consequence for breaking the conditions they were given. The release date they hand down is the date. Good behavior is expected at that point, not rewarded with early release on top of the revocation. Parole violations are taken seriously precisely because the person already had the benefit of being out. Going back in for it is a direct consequence of not...

In most cases, he will not be notified automatically. Phone and commissary deposits do not come with an alert that reaches the inmate directly. The money appears in his account, but unless he checks it himself at a kiosk or asks a staff member, he may not know it is there until he tries to make a call. The most reliable way to let him know is to send him a letter. Write a short note telling him you have added...

Yes. Sentencing status has no bearing on whether InmateAid can reach him. Whether someone is pre-trial, awaiting sentencing, already sentenced, or mid-transfer, the letter service works the same way. InmateAid routes mail through the US Postal Service to wherever he is currently held, and pretrial and pre-sentence detainees in county and detention facilities receive mail the same way sentenced inmates do. Send the letter, include his name and inmate ID number in the addressing details, and it will go out. Mail...

Yes, there is a cost in both directions, and it is worth understanding what you are actually paying for before deciding whether it makes sense for you. First, these are not emails. InmateAid uses the US Postal Service. When you send a letter, it is physically printed and mailed to the facility. When your inmate writes back, they address the reply to InmateAid's office in South Florida, where it is received, scanned, and posted to your account dashboard. You pay a...

Half of 16 months is 8 months, and working from his original custody date of July 19, that puts his estimated release around March 19, 2017. The math is straightforward: 8 months from July 19 lands on March 19 regardless of when he arrived at Kern for reception. The reception period at Kern is a classification and intake phase, not additional time on top of his sentence. The time he spent in county from July 19 forward all counts toward the...

Written explicit content generally makes it through. Mailroom staff are primarily looking for specific types of problematic content, not adult material between consenting parties. The things that get flagged and confiscated are communications related to the inmate's current criminal case, anything that looks like running a business from inside the facility, threatening or violent language, anything that mentions contraband, escape-related content, or material that reads like terrorist or extremist communication. Sexually explicit written stories between adults are not on that list...

The key question is whether his state DOC inmate number has been assigned yet. Once a person is sentenced to state prison, they are typically assigned a DOC number even before the physical transfer happens. If he has that number, you can deposit money directly into his state DOC account through the state's official deposit platform, and those funds will be waiting for him when he arrives at his assigned facility. To find the right deposit method, go to the Department...