The process is straightforward and keeps your personal address completely private throughout.
Your inmate writes a physical letter and mails it to InmateAid's postal address, which they can get from any outgoing envelope you have sent them through the platform. When the letter arrives at InmateAid, it gets scanned and uploaded directly to your account dashboard. You receive an email notification with a link letting you know there is a letter waiting for you.
To read the letter you unlock it for $1.59. That small fee covers the scanning, processing, and secure delivery of the letter through the platform. Once unlocked it is available in your dashboard whenever you want to read it again.
The setup on your end is simply having an active InmateAid account. If you already have one from sending letters or photos, you are already set up to receive. Your inmate just needs the InmateAid mailing address, which is printed on any envelope that has gone out to them through the service.
The privacy benefit here is real. Your home address never appears anywhere in the process. Your inmate mails to InmateAid, InmateAid scans and delivers to you digitally, and your personal location stays out of the facility's mail system entirely. For anyone who has safety concerns about having their address known at a correctional facility, or who simply prefers that separation, this is a meaningful feature.
If you have questions about setting up the account or retrieving a specific letter, reach out to aid@inmateaid.com and the team can walk you through it.