Life behind bars can be an emotionally exhausting and challenging experience, yet there are services that help prisoners remain connected with family and friends on the outside.
These services enable prisoners to receive letters and phone calls as well as make weekly deposits into their private cash accounts.
Keep in touch with family and friends
Prison life presents many difficulties for inmates, including feelings of isolation and stress. Regular communication with loved ones can help mitigate these difficulties as incarcerated individuals navigate their sentence. ContactMeASAP is designed to keep federal inmates connected via text message using secure technology compliant with prison regulations.
Studies have clearly illustrated the advantages of maintaining strong family ties; studies show that individuals’ mental health improves when they receive regular visitations or phone calls from loved ones. Unfortunately, people in jail or prison find it challenging to keep in contact with their families due to restrictive prison policies and costly phone and mail charges.
There are now innovative solutions, such as inmate messaging apps that allow loved ones to send inmates texts and photos from smartphones or computers – an efficient and cost-cutting way of keeping in touch while supporting prisoner rehabilitation. Inmates themselves can use these apps either via tablets provided by their facilities or JPay kiosks in correctional facilities.
Inmates may remain connected with loved ones by sending letters through JPay or TRULINCS/Corrlinks’ centralized inmate email service; money can also be received directly into their accounts from loved ones through these providers.
Reduce feelings of isolation
Maintaining contact with family through visits, phone calls and mail correspondence is vitally important to their mental health and successful reintegration into society. Research dating back decades confirms this reality; unfortunately however prisons make this difficult; visits are limited in number and cost prohibitive while phone calls can even be cut off as punishment – not to mention letters being often censored or sent through inferior scans operated by private corporations benefitting from prison contracts.
Feeling powerless to exercise our independence can be disorienting, degrading and violating basic human rights. Living conditions may become suboptimal; privacy may be denied in small living quarters that you must share with strangers; you could lose control of basic life functions like sleeping when or where, eating when and what. Adjusting to an environment in which one cannot drive their own car, buy groceries themselves or clothing can be challenging and it may take time before finding comfort again.
Mentally-ill or developmentally disabled people who already struggle to adapt to modern society may find navigating changes even more daunting. “Prisonization” may lead to dysfunctional social withdrawal that cannot easily be reversed upon release from confinement. Safe correctional environments must be established that foster meaningful personal connections and encourage a sense of wellbeing and identity among residents.
Maintain strong family bonds
Text messaging offers federal inmates an affordable alternative to phone calls and letters, enabling them to maintain close familial ties while behind bars. They can share updates directly with loved ones using the ContactMeASAP app and website which is compatible with most smartphones and tablets – its state-of-the-art encryption technology ensures user privacy as well as multiple device support.
Research has established the correlation between in-prison and post-release family contact and improved mental health, improved school performance, lower recidivism rates and closer relationships with children – as well as inmates having positive interactions with their families – and better mental health, improved school performance and reduced recidivism rates. Further, studies have found that people who enjoy good relationships with both of their parents are more likely to hold legal jobs after release as well as secure housing arrangements.
Poor relationships between parents and children typically result in housing instability and unemployment; the effects can be further compounded for families with special needs children as prison environments often rekindle trauma-based responses that were present prior to incarceration.
Though social science research has long demonstrated the positive effects of family contact, many prisons and jails still limit visiting hours, restrict phone access, or provide glass screens between loved ones to keep them apart. Furthermore, rising phone costs or delayed letter deliveries may become prohibitive.
Secure communication
ContactMeASAP is changing the prison system by offering texting privileges that enable inmates to communicate more efficiently with loved ones and reduce feelings of isolation. Regular contact also promotes psychological well-being and supports rehabilitation processes.
These services may not be offered at every facility, but many do provide them. These allow inmates to send and receive messages using a GTL tablet provided by their prison, which hosts free education apps as well as fee-based entertainment apps – as well as an inmate-to-inmate message app – while they may not be as fast or convenient than phone calls, they can help reduce costs by eliminating stamps, paper, photo printers and money order shops visits.
In addition to these services, inmates may also utilize pin phones at set times to call approved contacts at set rates and access prison voicemail services to leave and receive replies to messages from anyone outside the prison who subscribes for these services.
Liberty Advisors offer prisoners the guidance and resources to stay connected with family and friends through video calls and text messaging apps while behind bars. As part of your rehabilitation, they’re here to offer advice about communicating effectively while in prison and how best to protect their privacy.