2024 Holiday Gift Guide for Incarcerated Individuals
If you have loved ones who are incarcerated, you know that the holidays can be a challenging time. One way you can warm the heart of your incarcerated loved one is to send them holiday gifts.
Choosing gifts for incarcerated individuals can be difficult—facilities have different restrictions and procedures in place that might seem difficult to follow. With Blackstone Career Institute’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide, you can get great ideas for helpful and productive gifts to send to your incarcerated loved ones, as well as practical tips to help ensure that your gift is received without any major hiccups. Keep reading to learn more!
Top Gifts for Incarcerated Individuals in 2024
Blackstone Career Institute has some amazing and creative gift ideas for incarcerated individuals. You can send helpful books straight from our online store, or even sponsor your loved one’s educational journey through our correspondence Paralegal certificate program or correspondence Advanced Paralegal courses. Below are our top ideas for this 2024 Holiday Gift Guide:
1. Paralegal Certificate Program
The top spot in our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide belongs to Blackstone’s Paralegal certificate program. You can sponsor your incarcerated loved one’s educational journey through this correspondence program, empowering them with legal knowledge and potentially increasing their career opportunities when they are released.
Blackstone offers payment plans with no interest for this correspondence program, and you can enroll an incarcerated individual for as little as $59 down. Tuition includes all materials and services for the entire program, including soft-covered books, envelopes, exam evaluation services, and consultation sheets for academic assistance. All students need is postage, a pen or pencil, and paper.
All that is required for admission is a high school diploma or GED/high school equivalent. Your loved one will be able to stay busy by engaging with the program material and work toward a certificate at their own pace within the payment plan chosen and the two-year time frame. Upon release, graduates can re-enter the job market with a huge advantage and access to an entire career field.
2. Advanced Paralegal Courses
Another great gift option for incarcerated individuals this holiday season is sponsorship for one of Blackstone’s correspondence Advanced Paralegal courses. These courses offer the incarcerated an excellent opportunity to deepen their understanding of a specific area of the law.
Whether your loved one wants to become more knowledgeable about their own case or show the parole board that they are on the right track, a correspondence course could be a great choice. Other benefits of inmate education include lower rates of recidivism and increased employment prospects.
If your loved one has already completed the correspondence Paralegal certificate program through Blackstone, they can also further their education in one or more specific areas of the law with these courses. Blackstone offers 10 different Advanced Paralegal courses via correspondence to choose from.
3. Dictionary of Law
A helpful book to send your incarcerated loved one is Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. One of the greatest barriers to understanding the complexities of the legal system is legal jargon.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law includes over 10,000 legal words and phrases, with clear definitions that explain the terms in common language. Your loved one can use this excellent dictionary to gain better legal fluency and shed light on their own case.
4. Serving Productive Time
Serving Productive Time is a powerful book of stories, poems, and cartoons written by incarcerated individuals and others. The book discusses the realities of penal time and ways that incarcerated folks can make the most of their time by giving meaning to their lives behind bars, making amends for their crimes, and working toward a life beyond incarceration.
Give this heartwarming book to your incarcerated loved one this holiday season.
5. Writing to Win
Your loved one can build upon what they discover in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law with this book, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer. Whether they have an interest in the paralegal profession or they just want to learn how to better advocate for their own case, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer is a splendid book for those desiring to learn how to write in legal terms.
6. The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation is a must-have for incarcerated individuals who are looking to improve their writing. Whether they are writing for their own case or just want to improve their skills in general, The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation is the gold standard for learning the complex ins and outs of grammar and punctuation in the English language. The book is an easy choice for our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide!
Tips for Sending Incarcerated Individuals Gifts from Blackstone
Don’t forget to include the DOC number of your loved one when filling out the shipping address for your order.
Be aware that some facilities have special mailing instructions as well as book limits. Many facilities also require that gifts are sent from approved vendors only. Blackstone is already an approved vendor for many facilities, but it is always smart to check beforehand.
If there are any special mailing instructions from your loved one’s facility, make a note when you place your order at Blackstone. We can accommodate many requests and package the item accordingly.
If you are choosing to sponsor your loved one for an educational correspondence course, make sure that the prospective student obtains approval from the education department at their facility if necessary.
Blackstone sends materials to incarcerated individuals regularly, so if you have any questions, just reach out to us at 800-826-9228 during our office hours prior to purchasing!
Written by Adam Wernham
Disclaimer: Blackstone Career Institute, an accredited school, cannot guarantee employment, job promotion prospects, or income increases.
