RM - They cannot withhold mail from him. If it's like our facility, all mail is opened, searched for contraband, and read before it is given to them. It is read because a lot of people are dumb enough to write in letters about their plans to bring in drugs, etc.! Their phone calls are also recorded, for the same reasons. Not that you would be doing this, but photographs or magazines, etc., that are inflamatory in nature, extremely violent or pornographic are withheld from them. But there should be no problem with regular letters from a family member.
If he hasn't had a hearing on the charges yet, he may not end up doing a whole thirty days segregation. In our system (I believe it's a legal requirement) we can only give up to thirty days punitive segregation at any one time. This may be what they were talking about with the "thirty days". If someone had three separate charges, we could give ten days on each charge for a total of thirty days, or 20+5+5 or whatever, but no more than thirty days at one time. And if they are already locked up on the charges, we usually give them credit for "time served", the number of days they have already been locked up pending the hearing. We CAN give them credit for "time served", we don't HAVE to. A lot depends on how they conduct themselves in the hearing.
Over the years we've had many inmates try to get in the ceilings of the building I work in. It's rumored among them that if you can get up in the ceiling on our side of the building, you can crawl across to the other side of the building that is outside the trapgates, then remove another ceiling tile and be out on the other side of the gates ... WRONG! There are many, many foot-thick panels of solid concrete up there!
And there ARE some who PREFER to be in segregation! For some of them, it's worth being locked up to not have a "roommate" - they like those single cells. Some like it because they don't have to work while they're locked up and they can just sit there and vegetate all day. And we have quite a few who refuse to leave when their segregation time is over! Some are afraid to be in the general prison population ... they may owe another inmate money that they can't repay or they may have been threatened, or they might be just plain scared. They think they lose face by requesting protective custody (referred to as "checking in"). So they may do something off-the-wall dumb so they will be locked up in segregation for a while. It achieves the same thing, and allows them to save face!
