Hello, I am new to this forum. I have a very good friend that will be spending many years in our Federal Correctional system. He is currently in detention but, upon completion of his refently entered into agreement with the Crown, that is to say, when sentencing is final, he will, as I understand it, spend a couple of days getting classified in Millhaven and then be shipped off to a dofferent location. Not sure if I am allowed to say here what the charges are, so I won't but, I will say that the sentence will be more than 15 years at which time he'll be released if he's good, so many of you can deduct from that the charge we are dealing with here.

Now, with that said, I, as his friend along with members of his loving family wish to provide personal items. I have been able to read about CD's amx 40 in the cell at a time and no burns and many other things. The one thing I can't seem to get a handle on is if we can arrange a laptop computer for him and if so, what are the restrictions on it. Also, is there any kind of limited email or internet access insode Canadian prisons.

He is hoping to end up in Bath or Warkworth but, that is undecided yet as this was a violent crime. I'm sure he'll do good in classification but he may have to earn his way into medium security based on what I am seeing on this site.

You have a great site here and sorry if this is the wrong posting location.

Thanks,
bub...

My man is at Bath and I am sorry to tell u there is no internet access and I am almost certain he will not be allowed a laptop computer. :(

Thanks very much for the quick feedback. My wife and I were hoping the donate the laptop. WOuld anyone know if no laptop is policy throughout the grid of facilities?

Thanks again Toosgirl,
bub...

Don't feel like you have to offer information on charges that your loved one is in for.

As for laptops, I understand they are not permitted in any federal prison. Your loved one will go to Millhaven and then be shipped to his mother institution usually within 60-90 days. Once he is at his mother institution he has 30 days to get his belongings in. He will be given a list of items that are allowed. When my man went in I sent a bunch of clothes, a fan, a clock radio, running shoes, and a 13 inch tv. I forgot to send him sunglasses, a hat, a winter hat and gloves. Make sure you send clothes for all of the seasons!!!!

Yeah definately no computers. I believe that there are some people who do have them however they have them from before the rule was put in so they let them keep them. Either way, there are many other things to send in: brita water jug, shoes, play station one and games, discman, rechargeable batteries, fan, reading lamp, tv, and the list goes on. Good luck!

Thanks to all for the answers. We'll work with his wife and determine which items we can best assist with. I had heard that there is a financial limit for the starting items of around $2500 CDN ? I had also heard that a laptop is permitted but, that was not an educated statement, in fact 4th or 5th hand. So, I'm sure glad that I found this wonderful site. We simply want to ensure that, now that he has taken responsibility for his actions, that he uses the next few years to turn a positive cycle in his life. All of these people that end up in "the system" seem to be forgotten. This situation has brought me closer to that. One thing that we have done is given his friends the ability to send email to him. I set up an email address of his. Emails come in and they are folded and mailed to him without reading them so they are private. That caught on as we are now doing this for about 20 other families of inmates of the same detention centre. I may setup a separate server just for that if the numbers grow. It saves the family postage and seems to make communications to the person more frequent perhaps due to the ease of email.

The one other thing that he has asked me to research is whether or not it is possible for him to arrange an audience with his wife and father before official sentencing or shortly after, so that he can explain to them what in fact happened and what the key drivers were behind his actions. I saw on the news the other day that a lady successfully petitioned a court to allow her to take a lunch to her husband in jail but I don't recall any other details of that story. So, if anyone could comment on that, please do.

Please forgive the long windeness. This is so new to us and we have know him for over 30 years so we are looking for ways to help him and others if we can.

Take care,
bub...

Bubbab - are you paying for all of the emails that get mailed to the detention centre? my gosh that will add up fast!!!! I think it is a wonderful service that you have set up for inmates to still connect with loved ones.

I understand the inmate can have $500.00 in his account for a 1 year period (that is if the inmate has his personal items sent in for him). If he has to buy personal items than yes the number is much higher ($1500.00 I believe).

As for a private audience, I'm curious about this myself. I think it would be great if all inmates once sentenced have that chance to say goodbye. Unfortunately, the last sight most of us see are our loved one being handcuffed and taken back into custody in the courtroom.

Hi Leanne.

Yes, I do cover the cost of postage at this point. It's runing around $30 per week which is ok for me thus far. I have a few not for profit ventures that I support with a little money as well as hosting websites, printing and graphic design so, this one seems to be one of the worthiest causes I have seen. If the cost gets out of control, I will develop a waiting list and/or let people make small donations if they choose. So far, I can handle it fine, though.

Thanks for the info. there are a few different numbers out there about spending and personal items. Perhaps that differs based on the type or location of the facility?

I think this forum does fantastic work in helping support loves ones of inmates, and of course, the inmates themselves. These are simply people that have made mistakes in life but, they are people and we must not forget them!

Take care,
bub...

Well, wonders never cease. I just received an email for an inmate from the family member of another inmate because this inmate has no friends of family sending him mail. Now, that's what I call a really nice thing to do! What a great idea!
bub...

Hi everybody,

i don't know with waht miracle I found this webpage, but I have so many questions.
First things first, my brother is in this prison, I meant ottawa-carleton, he has to spend there 1 year, the thing is that i live in gemany, and can't see him, do you know, (bubbab, you talked about a website), what are the canadian laws, like, can he receive letters from me, presents, like books, CDs or clothes, and whether we can make an appointement with the centre in order to talk to him by phone. I am so depressed, i cam't talk to him since last august and have no money and no visa to come and visit him.

thanks in davance for your help.

6000KM - you can get collect calls from inmates but, they have to get your phone number approved by the jail and then put on the inmates phone list. As for mail, yes the inmate can send and receive mail. He has to buy stamps, paper, and envelopes. you can send him money orders so that he can purchase items from the jail store. I don't believe you are allowed to send him personal items because he is in a jail and not prison. (prison is for inmates serving sentences over 2 years time).

Bubbbab - once again I will say it, you are doing a wonderful service. Oh by the way, check out the forum here regarding the card exchange. Every now and then we get a massive list of people and we send inmates cards. We did a fun one for Valentines Day.

Thanks for the kind comments Leanne. I will look at the forum you mentioned. 6000km, best of luck with your situation. Please let me know if I can help. If you would like to send him an email and you know which jail he is in, I'll add an email address for him.

bub...

Dear bubbbab, dear Leanne,

Thanks a lot for your help, waw it's amazing to be able to talk about such stuff, i mean prison, and have people that undrestand you, and not just say, well he's a criminal, he desreves it.
That's really, cool.

To answer your question bubbbab, yes i know where my brother is, in the ottawa-Carleton detention center.

I am sorry, but i don't know how you'll manage to get an email for him? I just did not go through all the scraps, but i got that you organized a service, or let's say a website, that's checked by the authorities, and allows the prisoners to receive and emails, am I right?

please, just send me the link, if you're in lack of time for explaining to me, to the webpage where I can get the information concerning this.


Best regards

6000km, no that's not the way it works. What happens is that you pick an email address for your loved one. At this point, the email address is whatever you decide @privatehome.biz. That becomes his email address. Then it's works the same except, the email is printed, put in an envelope and mailed to your loved one. It is never read and always private although, I have no way to prove this to you, you'll need to trust me on it. We cover the postage, it is mailed the day of receipt and the average receipt time to the facility is 2 days and 3-4 days to the loved one. We are doing this for 20+ families thus far and it seems to be working well. As for the website, I am seriously thinking of setting one up on one of our servers which is dedicated to this. We processed 66 emails last week. In terms of what the website will be, I'll probably find out a few available urls and throw it out here for opinions on what to use.

Please let me know if there are any other questions.

bub...

Hey bub,
About the only being able to send him things up to a certain amount- that is true. However, just make sure that you remove ALL price-tags and such so that the amount is less. For example, he can put down that the clothing was one dollar each and so on, because you could have gotten it at a thrift store, for example. So, anything that is new, take it out of any packaging and remove anything with a price on it. If you are sending a tv, amke sure it is no bigger than 13 inch (check to make sure), that you can open the back and that you get a cable for it too (they have them at the dollar store). Good luck!

Thanks very much for that Ruby.
bub...