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
The rule is simple: you have to be wearing something. Full nudity will be rejected at the mail room at virtually every correctional facility in the country, and the entire envelope may be confiscated along with everything else inside it.
Lingerie and bikinis are fine. Photos showing suggestive poses in swimwear or underwear pass through without issue at most facilities as long as private areas are covered. That is where the line is, and staying on the right side of it...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Yes, and it is one of the more avoidable ways visitation gets taken away.
Correctional facilities take honesty during the visitation process seriously. Staff are trained to verify information visitors provide, and a lie that gets caught, even a seemingly minor one about transportation, creates an immediate trust problem. In your situation, telling a sheriff you drove yourself and then being observed getting into someone else's car is exactly the kind of discrepancy that gets flagged and reported.
Whether your visiting privileges...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
No. InmateAid does not read your letters. The volume of mail processed every day is handled in bulk by machine, and there is no staff review of letter content on our end. Your words go from your keyboard to the printer to the envelope without anyone at InmateAid reading them.
What does happen after the letter leaves our hands is a different matter. Every piece of incoming mail at a correctional facility is opened and inspected by mail room staff. That...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Yes, your inmate can write back to you using the “Letters From Inmates” service.
Here is how it works:
Your inmate writes a regular letter and mails it to the InmateAid address
The letter is received, scanned, and uploaded to your account
You get notified when it is ready
About the cost:
There is a small fee (typically $1.49) to open and read each letter in your account
Important to know:
The inmate does not need internet access or to pay anything extra to respond
They just send a normal letter through the mail
The...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
If your inmate is transferred to a new facility before a letter arrives at the old one, the letter will almost certainly come back to InmateAid rather than follow them. Correctional facilities do not forward inmate mail to new locations the way the postal service forwards residential mail.
When a returned letter arrives back at InmateAid, we will reach out to you. If you can provide the new facility address and inmate ID at the new location, we will resend the...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
When one letter gets through and another is refused at the same facility, the issue is almost certainly content-related rather than an addressing or ID problem. If the address or ID were wrong, neither letter would have arrived.
Facilities inspect all incoming mail and mail room staff have discretion to reject anything they determine violates the facility's mail policy. What triggers a refusal varies by facility and by the individual officer reviewing the mail that day. Content that references ongoing legal...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
This is not a direct communication link to a particular inmate. To write letters or send photos, you will have to go to your My Account area and click on the inmate's page and click "Letters". You will be able to communicate to him through there.
Subject: Send inmate mail
Yes. Every photo you upload through InmateAid is printed on 4x6 glossy photo paper and mailed directly to the facility along with your letter. Your inmate receives a physical printed photo at mail call, not a digital image or a screen.
The prints are produced on standard glossy photo paper, printed edge-to-edge, with no white border, and meet the format requirements accepted at virtually every prison, jail, and detention center in the country. There is nothing the mail room needs to...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Suggestive photos are generally permitted as long as strategic areas are covered. Bikini photos are typically accepted. See-through lingerie or fully revealing images will be rejected by the mailroom. When in doubt, keep it tasteful enough that it would pass a family photo standard.
Subject: Send inmate mail
Facility mailrooms process incoming mail by cross-referencing the inmate ID number against their records, not just the name. Even a one-digit error in the ID number is enough to prevent the letter from being matched to the correct inmate, and in most cases the letter will be returned to the sender rather than delivered. The name and facility being correct does not override an incorrect ID in most mailroom processing systems.
The good news is that this is a fixable situation...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Yes. A photo showing you and your family member or partner kissing is perfectly fine to send. Affectionate photos between people who have a personal relationship are permitted at virtually every facility.
The line that matters is nudity. Photos showing exposed private areas will be rejected at the mail room. Everything short of that, including kissing, embracing, and other displays of affection, passes through without issue.
Subject: Send inmate mail
InmateAid is a proven solution for international members. Your inmate can reply through our address for $1.89 per letter, photos included. You receive an email notification when their response arrives in your account, cutting the typical 6-day international mail delay considerably. Using InmateAid as the hub for both outgoing and incoming correspondence keeps everything in one place, gives you a digital record of every letter, and significantly reduces the time between exchanges.
Subject: Send inmate mail
In most cases, mail does not follow an inmate after a transfer. If a letter is sent to the old facility, it will usually be:
Returned to sender, or
Not delivered at all
Forwarding is rare, especially in county and state systems.
If you used InmateAid:
You will be notified if the letter is returned
If you provide the new facility information, the letter can be resent at no charge
Best practice going forward:
Always confirm the inmate’s current location before sending mail
Include the correct facility address and inmate ID number
During transfers, letters are the...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
If you want to stay private, InmateAid’s Response Service is exactly what you are looking for.
At facilities like Preston E. Smith Unit, inmates do not have internet access, so they cannot use this site directly. Everything is handled through regular mail.
Here is how it works:
Your letter is sent with the InmateAid return address, not your home address
The inmate writes back to that InmateAid address
InmateAid receives the letter, scans it, and uploads it to your account
You get an email notification when it is ready to...
Read moreSubject: Send inmate mail
Yes. You can send letters directly through the US Postal Service without using InmateAid or any online service. There is nothing preventing you from writing a letter by hand, putting it in an envelope, and mailing it yourself.
To send mail directly to Lincoln County Detention Center in Pioche, Nevada, address the envelope with your boyfriend's full legal name, his inmate ID or booking number, and the facility's complete mailing address. The inmate ID number is important because the mail room...
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