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

The bail amount itself is set by the magistrate or judge at the initial hearing. That number is fixed by the court and does not change based on which bail bond company you work with. If the bail is set at $50,000, that is the amount, regardless of what any bondsman says. What a bail bondsman does is provide a surety bond to the court on behalf of the defendant in exchange for a fee, typically 10 percent of the total...

When a fighting incident occurs at a California state facility, everyone suspected of involvement typically gets placed in the SHU while the investigation runs. That is standard protocol and does not by itself mean the outcome is predetermined against him. The Special Investigations Services unit gets involved and the incident gets reviewed, including any available camera footage. Contrary to what it might feel like from the outside, those cameras do get looked at. If footage exists, a committee will review...

Realistically, no. Release dates on short sentences like this rarely shift unless something unusual happens, either a serious disciplinary issue that adds time, or an extraordinary circumstance that accelerates release such as a medical situation or severe facility overcrowding. Barring either of those, plan on the scheduled release date. It is also worth putting this sentence in perspective. A felony gun possession charge typically carries five years or more in most states, and that number is trending higher as courts take...

A 7-year sentence at 20 percent means she becomes eligible for a parole board hearing after serving roughly 20 percent of the 84-month total, which puts that window at around 16 to 18 months. The two months she already did in county jail should count toward that calculation, which moves the clock forward a little. The SAP enrollment, which stands for Substance Abuse Program, is a meaningful factor. Completing a substance abuse program is exactly the kind of programming that parole...

VINELink is a useful tool for some things but it does not always have complete or current information for Georgia state inmates, particularly those in probation detention centers. The more reliable source is the Georgia Department of Corrections offender search directly at dcor.state.ga.us. That database pulls from GDC's own records and is more likely to reflect a recent transfer than third-party notification systems. Search using his full legal name and date of birth. If he has been processed into the GDC...

Parole violations for technical issues like a missed address notification tend to land differently than violations involving new criminal conduct, but the parole officer will still make a case for some form of consequence. That is their job, and they will argue for it regardless of how close he is to the end of his term. The range of outcomes here is wide. On the lenient end, the board could issue a formal warning, impose modified conditions, and send him back...

Bartlett State Jail is operated by CoreCivic, the private prison management company formerly known as CCA. They run their facilities by the book and follow TDCJ rules closely. That means the same visitation framework that applies across Texas state jails applies here. Whether contact is permitted depends on his custody level once he is assessed and assigned. Visitation at most Texas state jails is allowed, but the contact involved is limited. The standard is a brief hug and kiss when the...

Prison days are like "Groundhog Day". You wake up each day to the same monotonous morning, afternoon and nightly routine. It's hard to get used to. Once you finally get used to it you become institutionalized, which is not a good thing to fall in to. The goal is to get into some routine other than what is the minimum so that you can grow as a person. This is the hardest thing for inmates to establish. Inmates that can...

Yes, and the process is more straightforward than most people expect. Newly released inmates can use their prison-issued ID together with their birth certificate to apply for a state-issued photo ID card or a driver's license. Most states accept the combination of a prison ID and birth certificate as sufficient documentation to get a permanent government ID through the DMV. Getting that ID should be one of the first priorities after release since it is needed for almost everything else,...

You may use the Letter Service or the Postcard Service to send the new number to your inmate. There are other options, but they are not 100% reliable. One, you can try to call the facility and hopefully get a nice person on the phone who would take the information and let the inmate know, you could relay it through another inmate from their loved one and lastly if you are able to visit you can relay it there. If...