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

Yes. Tattoo Magazine can be sent to inmates at Oregon State Correctional Institution. You can order it through Amazon and ship it directly to the facility, or you can send it through InmateAid as we work with the same publisher. A couple of things to keep in mind when ordering any magazine subscription for an inmate. The subscription must ship directly from the publisher or an approved retailer. Magazines sent from a personal address will be rejected at the mail room....

Federal law under 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c) imposes mandatory minimum sentences for using or possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking crime or crime of violence. The mandatory minimums are steep on their own: 5 years for possession, 7 years for brandishing, and 10 years for discharging the weapon. A second or subsequent conviction under 924(c) triggers a 25-year mandatory minimum on top of everything else. The stacking problem comes from how these sentences are applied. Under the law, each 924(c)...

Yes, the service works across every facility listed on InmateAid, but every situation requires examination based on the carrier rates. The platform covers jails and prisons nationwide, from county detention centers to state facilities to federal institutions. What changes from facility to facility is not whether the service works but how much it saves you. The savings are what we are seeking. Every jail and prison contracts with a single phone carrier, and that carrier sets rates based on the type...

All inmates receive "good time credits" when they begin their sentence. Usually, that is 15% and that is the most it can be, it can only lessen by bad behavior. The one way for early release is if the inmate has information about another crime or criminal enterprise that would lead to the prosecution and conviction of another. THAT is also called snitching (not recommended) and it could carry repercussions on the yard, but the weak-minded always look for a short cut. ...

The timing depends on where the case is in the legal process, and there are several distinct phases that each affect where your person is physically housed. If the federal charge has just been filed and the case has not yet been adjudicated, your person will likely remain at their current facility until the federal court proceedings require their presence. At that point they will be transferred, typically to a county jail in the jurisdiction where the federal indictment was handed...

Safety in prison is largely within your son's own control, and that is actually a more reassuring answer than it might sound at first. The inmates who have the most difficult time inside are generally the ones who create problems, get involved in other people's business, or carry attitudes that invite conflict. Someone who keeps to themselves, follows the rules without attitude, does their work assignment, and uses their social skills to navigate relationships will move through a sentence with far...

This is a situation where time matters and the steps need to start now rather than after the birth. When an incarcerated woman gives birth, the baby does not stay with her in the facility beyond a very brief period, typically 24 to 72 hours in most state systems while the mother recovers from delivery. Oklahoma does not have a prison nursery program that allows infants to remain with incarcerated mothers long term, which means a placement plan for the baby...

Yes, and the law treats the attempt seriously even when no one was physically injured. Attempted murder requires two elements that prosecutors look at together. The first is intent, meaning the person deliberately tried to cause death or serious bodily harm. The second is a substantial step toward carrying out that intent. Deliberately using a vehicle as a weapon by driving at someone qualifies as both. The fact that she missed does not eliminate the criminal act. It simply changes the...

The Mesa County Clerk of the Court is your most reliable source for accurate sentencing information, and it is the same place attorneys go when they need the official record on a case. The clerk's office maintains all court documents including the judgment and commitment order, which is the document signed by the judge at sentencing that specifies the exact sentence imposed. That document tells you the length of the sentence, any conditions attached to it, and how the time is...

The uncertainty you are feeling right now is completely normal, and the lack of information is not a sign that something is wrong. It is standard procedure. Huntsville is the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's primary intake and processing facility. When an inmate arrives there from a county jail, the classification process begins. TDCJ evaluates the person's criminal history, the nature of the offense, their institutional behavior, medical and educational needs, and available bed space across the system. That assessment determines...

It is a physical letter, printed on real paper and delivered through the United States Postal Service the same way any piece of mail arrives. Your inmate holds it in their hands at mail call. There is no account to log into, no screen to read it on, no technology required on their end. It is just a letter. That tangible quality matters more than most people on the outside realize. Something you can fold, tuck under a mattress, read again...

A fugitive warrant means that a court in another jurisdiction, in this case Indiana, has issued a formal arrest warrant for your person based on charges filed there. When a warrant is entered into the National Crime Information Center database, which is the federal system that law enforcement agencies across the country share, it becomes visible to any officer who runs a name check anywhere in the United States. When your person was booked in Louisiana, the sheriff's department ran his...

Yes, and the process is built directly into your InmateAid account. When you send a letter through InmateAid, the return address on the envelope is InmateAid's Florida address. Your inmate writes their reply on paper, addresses it to that Florida address, and mails it out through the facility's regular outgoing mail with a postage stamp. InmateAid receives the letter, scans it, and places it in your account under a section called Inmate Response Letters in your Account Dashboard. You will receive an...