What to expect in federal prison # Designated, counting down You have a facility and a date. The remaining work is logistics, and most of it has to happen before you leave. Homework ## Learn the place Every institution publishes an admission and orientation (your disorienting first days of intake) handbook. Read it. It covers visiting hours, property limits, the commissary (the prison store) list, and local rules that vary considerably between facilities. Family groups on social media for specific institutions are genuinely useful for logistics — visiting room conditions, what gets rejected at the mailroom, how long approval is taking right now. They are also full of people selling consulting services. Take the logistics and ignore the sales. Anything you read about culture, danger, or what the population is like should be treated as rumor until you get there. Start with the [facility guide](/resources/facilities) for the place you're going, and the [support group directory](/resources/support-groups) for its family groups. Money ## Set it up before you go Funds reach you through a central lockbox by mail, or electronically through MoneyGram (how families load money onto the account) or Western Union. Each has different timing and fees. Have the person outside do a small test deposit before your report date so you both know the process works. Two things to understand about money inside: - Commissary spending is capped monthly. The figure has been around $360 for a while, but it is adjusted and can vary locally. - If you owe restitution or a fine, the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program takes payments from your account on a schedule that is recalculated periodically based on what comes in. Money sent to you is not entirely yours. Confirm the current commissary cap and the IFRP schedule against Program Statement 5380.08 and the facility handbook. Communication ## Phones and messaging, tested in advance Phone time is capped monthly and calls are cut off automatically at a set duration. The monthly allowance has changed more than once in recent years; confirm the current figure rather than trusting anything you read online, including this. The phone system requires the person answering to press a key to accept the call. Some virtual number services do not forward keypresses correctly, and Google Voice is the common failure. TextPlus has historically worked. Test it with your people before you leave, not after. Electronic messaging runs through TRULINCS (the inmate email/phone/money system, all monitored), with a delay in both directions and a per-minute charge. Assume everything you write is read, stored, and potentially quoted back to you. Write accordingly. The messaging rules, annotated: [Program Statement 5265.13](/resources/program-statements/5265-13-trulincs-electronic-messaging). Visiting ## Start the visiting list now Visitors have to be approved, which means forms, background checks, and waiting. Starting this after you arrive costs you months of visits. Get the forms to the people you want to see, have them complete them accurately, and understand that a criminal record on their side may complicate approval. The visiting rules, annotated: [Program Statement 5267.09](/resources/program-statements/5267-09-visiting-regulations). Report day ## Walking in Your designation letter states where and by what time. Be early. Bring almost nothing. Whatever you carry in is either stored, mailed home at your expense, or lost. What is generally worth bringing: - Photo identification; - your designation paperwork; - a written list of phone numbers and addresses, because your phone is not coming with you; - documentation of medical conditions and current prescriptions; - and prescription eyeglasses. Leave everything else. Assume you will not see it again — that is not cynicism, it is the ordinary outcome. Intake takes several hours. It is tedious rather than dramatic. Tell whoever drops you off not to expect contact for a few days. Getting phone and messaging access set up takes time, and the silence is normal. Keep reading — part 4 of 4 ### [What to carry in your head](/going-in/before-you-go/what-to-carry-in-your-head) You cannot look any of this up once you are inside. This section is short because it is meant to be memorized. For your people ## Hand the rest of this site to your family You will not be able to look things up once you're inside. They can, and this is where: [everything written for the one waiting](/for-families) — a twelve-part guide to mail, visiting, money, and your release date, plus their own FAQ and checklist. Alongside it, a [guide to every facility](/resources/facilities) with [email alerts when visiting stops](/lockdown-alerts/subscribe), the [support group directory](/resources/support-groups), calculators for your release math, and [free answers](/contact) when they have questions. Send them the link before you report, not after they can't reach you. **Need help with this? Just ask.** These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer. [josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com?subject=Going-in%20question) I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.