A letter from home arriving at mail call is one of the most powerful moments in an incarcerated person's day. It is proof that someone on the outside is thinking about them, that life is continuing, and that there is something worth coming home to. But sending mail to a correctional facility involves rules that vary by institution and mistakes can mean your letter never arrives. This section covers how to address mail correctly for federal and state facilities, what the mailroom screening process looks like and how long it adds to delivery time, what content is and is not permitted in letters, how to send photos and why sending them through InmateAid's service is more reliable than printing and mailing them yourself, how to send mail from outside the United States, and what the InmateAid return letter service does for inmates who want to write back. The guidance here makes sure every letter you send reaches its destination. See also our sections on Inmate Care Packages, Send Books and Magazines, and Inmate Phone Calls.
Related InmateAid Services
Subject: Send inmate mail
Letters are processed immediately upon entry unless after 3pm on Saturday, those letters will process Monday morning. We estimate that it takes 2-3 business days to make it to the jail. Once there, the staff opens and reads each piece of mail and inspects it for contraband. Once they decide the mail is fit to be handed out at mail call, your inmate will receive it. Any delay that occurs at the facility is out of our control. We make...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Inmates do not have internet access. Our service converts your message into a printed letter and gets to your inmate through the US Mail. Inmates may write you back to your address or to ours. If they send it to InmateAid, we scan it into your account and email you of it's there.
Subject: Send inmate mail
Mail is considered sacred in the penal system and even inmates in solitary confinement, administrative hold or the SHU are able to receive and write letters in any amount at any time.
Subject: Send inmate mail
You can send anything but straight nudity, drugs in the picture, weapons in the picture or tattoos. Sexy pictures like lingerie and/or bikinis are not a problem. Make them tasteful and they will all be allowed.
Subject: Send inmate mail
It gets there within 2-3 business days at the latest. The part we cannot control is the delay that sometimes happens at the facility mail room level (for a variety of reasons).
Subject: Send inmate mail
No, the facilities do not notify us when the recipients actually get the mail handed to them. We only know if it is returned. In that event, we investigate the reason for the return and most often it's either a missing inmate ID number or the wrong facility chosen when the inmate profile is made. Be patient, there are delays for all correspondence in these facilities that we have no control over.
Subject: Send inmate mail
You will need their full legal name and their inmate ID number for them to receive mail. You may call the institution and ask to speak with a secretary of a counselor.
Subject: Send inmate mail
NO, envelopes are provided, stamps may be purchased at commissary. If you inmate does not have money on their books, there is a provision for indigent inmates where stamps and letter writing materials are available.
Subject: Send inmate mail
The Inmate Response Letter Service is $1.49 based upon the letter that is received in it's entirety, to be paid by the recipient. If the inmate mails more than four pages, there is another PDF File created which is a separate charge. As long as the letter is four pages or less, then it's a single charge.
Subject: Send inmate mail
No, they are sent through the US Postal Service
Subject: Send inmate mail
Inmates that have money on their inmate trust accounts can purchase stamps and envelopes at the weekly commissary. If they do not have money on their books, the prison will provide indigent inmates with all the materials necessary to send out mail to their loved ones.
If your inmate writes to you directly, using your address, the cost of the mailing is a 49 cent stamp. Many of our members use the Inmate Response Mail service through InmateAid. Your inmate would...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
It is 50/50 whether they will forward it or not. The inmate profiles are created by the members of the site. We do not monitor or verify the inmate information unless requested to do so. If the new facility is the Union City Community Corrections Center (UCCCC), we would be happy to resend it for you at no charge.
Subject: Send inmate mail
If he writes back through InmateAid, he simply uses our return address and we will scan the letter into your account and notify you of it's existence.
Subject: Send inmate mail
Yes. Inmates have the right to refuse incoming mail, and if they choose to do so the letter gets returned to the sender rather than delivered.
It is not something that happens often, but it does happen. An inmate may refuse mail from a specific person for any number of reasons, whether they want to cut off contact, are trying to avoid conflict inside, or simply do not want the correspondence. In some cases a facility can also flag or restrict...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Saturday night, the post office is closed. The letters will be processed Moday morning.
