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Voice: Formerly-incarcerated experience, not expert advice. Real. No fluff. Honest about doubt.
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Relationships During Incarceration in Maryland | InmateAid
Maryland's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services does something unusual: it offers video visits through Microsoft Teams at no charge to families. No per-minute fee. No platform subscription. No account to fund before the visit connects. Download the Teams app, complete the DPSCS video visitation form, and the invitation link comes to your email. The visit is free.
This is not the same as California's free audio calls or Connecticut's free phone system. Maryland's free offering is specifically video -- the call where you can see each other. At most facilities, that visit is 15 to 30 minutes. It is short. But it is free, and it is visual, and for a family trying to maintain a relationship on a limited budget, it changes the weekly calculus in a way that most other states in this series do not offer.
The catch: video visits alternate with in-person visits at many Maryland facilities. At some facilities you get one visit per week, and that week it is either in-person or video -- not both. You keep track of which week is which. When you lose track, you show up at the wrong time and do not get the visit.
At Jessup Correctional Institution, the rules are more generous: a maximum of two visits per week, one in-person and one video. But the in-person visit must be scheduled by phone, Monday through Friday, 9am to 1pm. And if either the incarcerated person or the visitor needs to use the restroom during the in-person visit, the visit ends immediately.
That last rule is worth naming plainly: the visit terminates if either party needs the restroom.
These are the operational realities of maintaining a relationship through a Maryland sentence. There are no experts here. We have experience. You measure your situation against ours and decide what is true for you.
The Wife and the Girlfriend Are Not the Same Person
It happens in Maryland visiting rooms and on Maryland Microsoft Teams calls the same way it happens everywhere else -- at Jessup Correctional Institution in Howard County, at North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland in western Maryland, at Eastern Correctional on the Eastern Shore, at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, at the facilities clustered south of Baltimore in the Jessup corridor.
Some of the men inside are running two tracks. There is the woman who knows the real situation and the woman who knows the version he performs. In Maryland, where video visits are free and he can schedule them through Microsoft Teams, he can maintain contact with both tracks at lower cost than in most other states. More contact does not mean more honesty.
The one who knows the real situation is talking about the now. She is managing a Maryland household -- in Baltimore City, in Prince George's County, in Montgomery County, in one of the other communities that make up one of the most economically and racially diverse states in the country. She is doing it without another adult. She has this week and what this week costs.
The other one is talking about the future. She is still holding onto a version of the relationship that has not been tested. The free Microsoft Teams call makes her easier to maintain alongside the real one.
He treats them differently. With the one who knows everything he is more transactional, more likely to need something before asking how she is. With the other one he is more careful, still performing.
Some women reading this are the one who knows everything. Some are the other one. Some are finding out right now which one they are.
If you are not sure: does he know what is actually happening in your week, or does he only know what he needs from it? Are you the person he calls when something is good, or only when something is needed? Have you ever met anyone in his life who knew about you?
The answers are not comfortable. But they are information.
What Free Video Visits Change -- and What They Do Not
Because Maryland offers Microsoft Teams video visits at no charge, the video call does not cost you anything per minute. That changes the financial pressure around visual contact in a meaningful way.
A 15-minute free Teams call is worth having even when the budget is tight. Use it for connection. Look at each other. Let the kids see him. Let him see what the week has looked like on your face. A phone call can hide things that a video call cannot.
What the free video visit does not change:
Phone calls in Maryland still go through ViaPath and cost money. ConnectNetwork (877-650-4249) handles account management. The first 10 phone numbers he calls that are not blocked are automatically added to his approved list -- the auto-enrollment system means you may not need to do anything to get your number on the list, but it also means the list builds itself based on what he calls, which is worth understanding.
Commissary still costs money. The trust account still needs to be funded. The financial pressure of maintaining contact does not disappear because one channel is free -- it shifts to what remains.
Set a sustainable monthly number for phone and commissary. Communicate it clearly. Hold it. The free Teams visit is the supplement to the budget, not the replacement for the conversation about what you can actually send.
The Commissary Conversation
The phone call goes through ViaPath. ConnectNetwork handles the account. The call costs money. And somewhere in it, the conversation turns to his books and what you can send.
He is dependent. He cannot buy his own hygiene products or extra food or make his own phone calls without funds in his account. That dependency produces need that comes through the call as asking and sometimes as pressure. It is not always love. Sometimes it is logistics.
You are managing a Maryland household. Maryland is an expensive state, particularly in the Baltimore/Washington corridor. The rent in Prince George's County has risen. The cost of living in Montgomery County is among the highest in the mid-Atlantic. Whatever the local reality, the bills do not pause because he is not there.
Women ask about this on InmateAid's Ask the Inmate section more than almost any other relationship question. Whether he is using the auto-enrolled phone list to call other women. Whether the money she sends is going where he says. Whether the need is about love or about logistics. The wondering sits underneath every call and does not go away until someone names it out loud.
Set a number. Communicate it. Hold it. Consistency matters more than any single large deposit.
What She Is Carrying That He Cannot See
When he went in, she absorbed everything he used to do. Every decision. Every bill. Every school meeting and sick kid and broken appliance and form that needs a signature. Every night the house is quiet in a way that is not peace.
Maryland is a densely populated state with communities that range from urban Baltimore to suburban Prince George's and Montgomery Counties to the rural Eastern Shore and the mountains of western Maryland. The social dynamics are different in each. In Baltimore's close neighborhoods, the news travels. In the suburbs, it is easier to maintain privacy but harder to find community. In western Maryland near Cumberland, where North Branch Correctional Institution is located, the community is small and the drive from Baltimore is two and a half hours through the mountains.
Friends leave when the news is bad. Family members who had reservations feel confirmed. What is left is her, managing children who are watching her to understand how they are supposed to feel about all of this.
The person inside experiences deprivation. What he often cannot see is that she is deprived too -- not of freedom but of partnership, of another adult, of someone to hand the weight to at the end of the day. The resentment that grows from that gap is real. It is not a sign the relationship is wrong. It is a sign both of them are under a pressure most couples never face.
The Doubt Is Normal
At some point, most women in this situation think about leaving.
Maybe it was the week she got confused about whether it was the in-person week or the video week and missed the visit entirely. Maybe it was the in-person visit at Jessup that ended because one of the kids needed the restroom. Maybe it was the Microsoft Teams call that was 15 minutes and was still somehow mostly about commissary. Maybe it was just a Wednesday in a Maryland winter.
The thought is not betrayal. It is what happens when a person carries more than they were built to carry alone.
Some women leave. Some should. The sentence can reveal things about the relationship that were already true. Leaving is not failure.
Some women stay and build something. Not the relationship they had before. Something different. Something tested in a way most couples never are. The ones who build something stopped pretending and had the real conversations.
We are not going to tell you to stay or go. We will tell you that the doubt is not proof the relationship is wrong. It is proof that you are paying attention.
The Social Isolation Nobody Warns You About
Maryland's communities vary dramatically from urban Baltimore to suburban Maryland to the rural Eastern Shore and western mountains. The social isolation of this situation looks different in each.
In urban Baltimore, some people disappear when the news is bad. The community that was there before may not know how to relate to the version of you managing this alone. In suburban communities, there is more anonymity but less community to draw on. What you need -- one person who can sit with you in the reality of what this is without making it about themselves -- is harder to find than it should be.
Maryland has community legal aid organizations, reentry support groups, and advocacy organizations particularly in Baltimore and the Washington-adjacent suburbs. The DPSCS website at dpscs.maryland.gov has family-facing information. If you can find one person who can hold your reality without judgment, find them and let them in.
One important note for visitors who are on parole or probation in Maryland: you cannot visit an incarcerated individual while under the supervision of the Division of Parole and Probation or currently on home detention. This is a visitor eligibility requirement that excludes a meaningful portion of the people who might otherwise want to visit.
Visiting in Maryland: Alternating Schedules, Email Requests, Free Teams
Maryland does not have conjugal visits. No private time at any DPSCS facility.
Maryland's visiting system has two components -- in-person and Microsoft Teams video -- and many facilities alternate between them weekly. Keep track of which week is which. Check the specific facility's page at dpscs.maryland.gov.
**In-person visits**: Submitted by email to the facility-specific visitation email address. Key addresses:
- Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center (MRDCC): MRDCC.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov
- Metropolitan Transition Center: MTC.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov
- Chesapeake Detention Facility: CDF.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov
- Baltimore Central Booking: BCBIC.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov
- Check dpscs.maryland.gov for all facility email addresses.
Minimum 30 days in custody before qualifying for visitation. Must be on the approved visitor list. Visitors must not have open warrants, must not be on parole or probation or home detention, must not be fugitives.
**Jessup Correctional Institution**: Up to 2 visits per week (1 in-person + 1 video). In-person on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday; schedule by phone 410-799-6100 ext. 1204, Monday-Friday 9am-1pm. Video via Microsoft Teams, Tuesday-Friday 1pm-2:20pm and 4:40pm-9pm (15 minutes). Restroom use by either party during a visit terminates the visit immediately.
**Video visits (Microsoft Teams)**: Free for eligible visitors. Download Teams, complete the DPSCS Video Visitation Form (available at dpscs.maryland.gov), and an invitation link will be sent to your email. Three-way calling and screen captures are prohibited during video visits.
**Contraband**: Maryland Criminal Law Article §9-410, §9-412 through §9-417 makes it a criminal offense to introduce contraband into a correctional facility. Conviction carries 3-10 years imprisonment, $1,000-$5,000 fines. This applies to visitors.
The Practical Layer: What Needs to Happen
When a partner is incarcerated in Maryland, the practical tasks land on the person outside.
**Power of attorney.** Any legal or financial matter requiring his signature needs power of attorney. Maryland facilities have notary services. LawDepot offers templates. Do this early.
**Maryland marital property.** Maryland is an equitable distribution state, not community property. Marital assets divided fairly but not necessarily equally. Understand what you are jointly responsible for.
**Joint finances.** Address shared accounts now. Joint debts continue.
**Benefits.** SNAP, Maryland Medicaid, childcare assistance through CCAP, utility assistance through MEAP. Maryland's support infrastructure is more developed than many states in this series. Use what exists.
**ConnectNetwork account.** Set up at connectnetwork.com or call 877-650-4249 for phone account management. The first 10 numbers he calls that are not blocked are auto-enrolled to his phone list. The call costs money even if the video visit is free.
**Money deposits.** Money orders to: P.O. Box 17111, Baltimore, MD 21297-0382. ConnectNetwork also accepts credit cards online. Access Securepak for care packages (max $100 per incarcerated individual per quarter; 6% sales tax applies to certain items).
**The Teams visit.** Complete the DPSCS Video Visitation Form before trying to schedule. The form is at dpscs.maryland.gov. Without the form, the invitation will not come.
None of this is the romantic part of the relationship. All of it is the relationship.
For the Partner Inside: What You Cannot See
This section is for him.
She kept track of which week is in-person and which week is video. She completed the DPSCS form. She downloaded Microsoft Teams. She emailed the facility visiting address and waited for the response with available dates. And when the 15-minute video call came through, it still turned into a conversation about commissary.
The call costs money even if the video visit does not. Use the free Teams visit for connection. Use it to look at her. Ask about her week. Let the kids see your face. The 15 minutes is short. Make it worth having.
And be honest. The women who maintain real relationships through Maryland sentences are almost always the ones who were told the truth.
When He Gets Out: The Part Nobody Wants to Say
The girlfriend who held onto the idea of him -- who used the free Teams call to fill the visits with future-talk -- is usually gone within the first month after release. The adjustment to ordinary Maryland life, the reentry challenges in a state with competitive housing markets and limited employment for felony records, the way he is different from what she remembered -- it is harder than the calls suggested. Most of those relationships do not survive contact with Tuesday.
The woman who managed the Maryland household alone, who tracked the alternating visiting schedule, who funded the ConnectNetwork account and completed the DPSCS form and showed up on the right week -- she already knows who he is under pressure. She has no illusions left. That absence of illusion is what makes rebuilding possible.
Reentry in Maryland is hard. Baltimore's job market for people with felony records is limited. Maryland's housing market in the Baltimore/Washington corridor is competitive and expensive. Supervision conditions are real constraints. He has been institutionalized in ways neither of you fully understands until you are living in the same space again.
The girlfriend is hoping for the relationship she imagined. The woman who wrote through thick and thin is working with the one that actually exists.
FAQ
**Are Maryland video visits really free?** Yes. Maryland DPSCS offers video visits through Microsoft Teams at no charge to eligible visitors. Complete the DPSCS Video Visitation Form at dpscs.maryland.gov, download Teams, and an invitation link will be sent to your email. Three-way calling and screen captures are prohibited.
**How does the alternating visit schedule work in Maryland?** Many Maryland facilities alternate weekly between in-person visits and Microsoft Teams video visits. Some facilities allow one visit per week total; at Jessup Correctional you can have one in-person and one video per week. Check the specific facility's page at dpscs.maryland.gov for the current schedule.
**Can I visit if I am on parole or probation?** No. Maryland DPSCS visitor eligibility requires that visitors not be under the supervision of the Division of Parole and Probation or on home detention. Open warrants also disqualify visitors.
**What is the restroom rule at Jessup?** At Jessup Correctional Institution, if either the incarcerated individual or a visitor needs to use the restroom during an in-person visit, the visit is terminated immediately.
**Does Maryland have conjugal visits?** No. Maryland does not have conjugal visits at any DPSCS facility.
**How do I set up phone accounts in Maryland?** ConnectNetwork handles all phone account management for Maryland DPSCS. Call 877-650-4249 or go to connectnetwork.com. The first 10 unique numbers he calls that are not blocked are automatically added to his approved phone list.
**What happens to the relationship when he gets out?** Reentry in Maryland is hard. Housing in the Baltimore/Washington corridor is expensive and competitive. Employment for felony records is limited. Supervision conditions are real. Relationships built on calls and visits and future-talk often do not survive contact with ordinary life. The ones that have the best chance are built on honesty about who both people are under pressure.
[SPEC NOTE: Folder 16R8MTFxsOtqCIV4-WZb9Ys4mX8tc7YRR. Internal CTAs: Maryland inmate search, send money, visitation guide Maryland DPSCS, Staying Connected hub, Maryland reentry resources. SOURCING: dpscs.maryland.gov/inmateservs/phone_services.shtml (ConnectNetwork authorized deposit portal; 877-650-4249; ViaPath; DPSCS not in charge of phone accounts); DPSCS Department Directive telephone system (ViaPath auto-enrollment; first 10 unique numbers called auto-added to phone list; 10 numbers total; change period per facility); dpscs.maryland.gov/inmateservs/inmate_visitation.shtml (visitation is privilege; Microsoft Teams replacing Skype; free video visits; DPSCS Video Visitation Form; minimum 30 days before qualifying; must be on approved visitor list; no open warrants; not on parole/probation/home detention; not a fugitive; dress code required; Maryland Criminal Law Article §9-410 §9-412-417 contraband criminal offense); dpscs.maryland.gov/locations/jci.shtml (Jessup: max 2 visits per week 1 in-person + 1 video; in-person Sat/Sun/Mon; schedule 410-799-6100 ext 1204 Mon-Fri 9am-1pm no weekends/holidays; video Microsoft Teams Tue-Fri 1pm-2:20pm and 4:40pm-9pm 15 minutes; restroom use terminates visit immediately); dpscs.maryland.gov/locations/mrdcc.shtml (MRDCC: alternating weekly in-person and Teams visits; 1 hour regular; 30 minutes disciplinary segregation); dpscs.maryland.gov/locations/mtc.shtml (MTC: alternates weekly in-person/video; in-person 30 min; max 3 visitors including children; no children hospital population max 2 visitors; schedule 1 week in advance 24-48 hrs response); jailexchange.com Dorsey Run (facility email addresses for scheduling: MRDCC.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov; MTC.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov; CDF.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov; BCBIC.InmateVisitation@maryland.gov); penmateapp.com MRDCC (Teams free; three-way calling and screen captures prohibited; ConnectNetwork for phone; money orders to PO Box 17111 Baltimore MD 21297-0382; Access Securepak $100/quarter 6% sales tax); dpscs.maryland.gov/publicinfo/virtual_visitation.shtml (6776 Reisterstown Road Baltimore MD 21215; 877-379-8636 / 410-585-3300); no conjugal visits Maryland; Maryland equitable distribution not community property; DPSCS uses "incarcerated individuals"; dpscs.maryland.gov. NOTE for Poorwa: verify Microsoft Teams video visits still free per dpscs.maryland.gov; verify Teams replaced Skype current; verify DPSCS Video Visitation Form still required; verify ConnectNetwork 877-650-4249 still current; verify auto-enrollment first 10 numbers ViaPath current; verify Jessup 410-799-6100 ext 1204 Mon-Fri 9am-1pm scheduling still current; verify Jessup restroom-terminates-visit rule current; verify alternating schedule MTC current; verify minimum 30 days before visitation current; verify parole/probation disqualifies visitors current; verify no conjugal visits Maryland; verify facility emails current per dpscs.maryland.gov; verify money orders PO Box 17111 Baltimore MD 21297-0382 current; verify Access Securepak $100/quarter limit current; len/character check before publish.]