Find Madison County Jail inmates...

Want to learn about the Madison County Jail?

If you know somebody in the Madison County Jail in Huntsville, Alabama you probably have some questions about what they should expect as an inmate and what you should expect as their friend on the outside. Read ex-inmate interviews for information you won't find anywhere else. You can find the interview questions by following links on the left-hand side under "Life in Jail."

Time off for good behavior
It is pretty rare these days to ever serve your full sentence. The most obvious reason for this is the stead increase in inmate populations over the past few decades. Jail administrators usually like good behavior time (more commonly known as "good time") because it gives inmates an incentive to follow the rules.

In the Madison County Jail you can earn up to 20% of your time off by avoiding fights, listening to the guards and just generally staying out of trouble. This might not seem like a lot of time but when you consider that on a ten month sentence you will probably only serve eight months it might make more sense. Good time is almost automatic, you usually have to get in a lot of trouble to lose it.

Staying in touch with the outside
One thing that will help you pass time behind bars is having regular communication with people on the outside. Face to face visits sound great but talking to your loved ones behind a glass wall on a phone can be difficult (especially when the visiting room is noisy because it can get very loud). Phone calls are convenient since inmates have access to a phone every day but phones are very expensive - you can easily spend a couple hundred dollars within a few weeks if you aren't careful.

It may seem outdated but sending letters from and to the jail is still a very popular form of communication. Getting a letter at mail call can really make an inmate's day. If an inmate doesn't have money on their "books" to purchase stamps, paper and pencils these will sometimes be provided to allow the inmate to keep in touch with those on the outside.

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