Hey !
I wrote my first letter for an Inmate incarcerated in Lawrence CC Illinois , I’m from France and I don’t know how long it takes to get a respond . The postal service in France take 6 days to get the letter in USA but does anyone know how much time it takes to Lawrence to give the letters to the inmates ?
Maybe its a stupid question but does the inmates have to pay to send letters outside the us ?
I have problems with GTL but I’m going to try with a VPN , does the emails with gtl are printed and give to the inmates like a paper mail or does it work with tablets at Lawrence ?
I have so many questions !
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hi Célia! I come from France too! for Gtl I use the VIBER, but you can also use skype... C'est cool ! Tu es la première française que je croise ici ^^
Thank you for your responds !
Salut Celia,
I used to have a pp who got transferred from Menard to Lawrence (which is a good thing max to medium security level). We don't write anymore, but they were able to have tablets there (at least he had one and that was quite common and legal). In pre-Corona times, snailmail was to take almost exactly 4 weeks (2 weeks to him, 2 weeks from him) that was our regular rhythm. With GTL, hm, great if you can do it. I can't any longer as it doesn't accept my credit card any longer, for being German and not having a billing address in the US.
My former pp was usually able to use GTL once per week. He told me sth. like ppl from different dorms went to the gym and the kiosk on different days, but I've got no clue if they're still doing it like that. They do have to pay for it, yes and back then they'd only get international stamps to a certain amount (which is why he loved GTL as it was cheaper and faster. I think there was a thumb rule of how many stamps he could get per month, he was one of the indigent prisoners and there was a rule for that as to how many stamps and other writing supplies he got).
Hope this helps!
Good luck 'n happy writing!
Kirsten
Bonjour Celia! Good on you!
Response times are always a question. My experience is it always takes longer than you want it to. Seriously. It’s all about patience. I’ve heard international mail to/from the U.S. is delayed quite a bit these days too, e.g. the mail hitches a ride on commercial flights, and those are few and far between, here in the age of Covid-19. Mail inside the U.S. is running normally though.
Do they have to pay? Yes. Domestic postage is generally one stamp, and international can be 2 or 3 stamps, depending.
Re: emails and tablets vs. printing, it’s all facility specific. I don’t know anyone in Lawrence, so I can’t say there, but some places have two-way email via tablets or kiosks, and in other places it’s one-way, e.g. the facility will print and deliver them to the recipients (in which case it’s important to put your postal return address in the body of the message).
Bon chance!