Commissary and Care Packages in Colorado

If you have someone locked up in Colorado, two questions come up fast: what can they buy, and what can you send. The answer depends on where they are held. A state prison run by the Colorado Department of Corrections works one way, a county jail works another, and a federal facility plays by its own rulebook. Here is how all three actually work, so you are not guessing or wasting money.

One thing worth saying up front. The most dependable way to stay in touch with anyone inside is the mail. A letter and a few printed photos get through when an account is short, when a jail takes no packages, or when canteen access is limited. Treat that as your baseline and the rest as extra.

Colorado state prisons (CDOC)

In a CDOC facility there is no cash. Money goes onto the inmate's account, and they spend it at the canteen, which is what Colorado calls the commissary. The inmate places canteen orders themselves, usually once a week.

A timely heads-up on how you add money: Colorado just changed deposit vendors. The state moved off JPay in May 2026, and CorrectPay is now the provider, used online or through its mobile app. Money orders and cash sent by mail are not accepted, so deposits are electronic. Money sent before 4 p.m. mountain time is generally available the next day, but allow two to three days before a canteen order to be safe. You will need the inmate's DOC number.

Here is the Colorado detail to plan around. The Department is required by law to withhold at least 20 percent of any deposit you send for court-ordered fines, fees, restitution, or child support before the rest reaches the inmate's account. So a portion of every deposit goes to those obligations first.

The canteen carries food, hygiene, clothing, stamps, and writing materials, and is run as a state enterprise whose revenue helps fund inmate education and recreation programs. People verified as indigent receive basic hygiene items and writing materials at no cost.

Care packages for CDOC inmates

Colorado state prisons do not run a family care-package or quarterly-package program the way some states do. There is no catalog to order a box from. The way you provide items is to fund the inmate's account so they can buy what they need from the canteen themselves. Outside boxes from home are not accepted.

That leads to the one warning worth repeating. If anyone tells you to ship a package to a Colorado prison, verify it with the facility first, because outside packages are generally refused, and the canteen is the real channel.

Colorado county jails

County jails are their own world. Each county runs its own deposit and commissary contracts, so what is true in one county is wrong in the next. Colorado county jails are also frequently stricter than the state on packages, and many take none at all.

A couple of patterns to know. Denver runs one of the largest jail systems in the state, and the Colorado Springs area in El Paso County is another big one, each with its own deposit vendor and commissary rules. At the other end, small county jails like Dolores County accept no care packages from anyone, vendor or family, and tell you flatly to fund the commissary account instead. That is the common Colorado story.

The takeaway is simple: never assume a county jail uses the same vendor or rules as the state, and do not assume packages are allowed at all. Pull up that specific jail's page and confirm the deposit vendor, the spending cap, the cutoff, and the package policy before you send anything.

Federal facilities in Colorado

Colorado's federal presence is concentrated and notable. The Bureau of Prisons runs the Florence complex in Fremont County, about 90 miles south of Denver, which holds four institutions: ADX Florence, the federal supermax and the most secure prison in the country, USP Florence High, a high-security penitentiary, FCI Florence, a medium-security facility, and a minimum-security camp. Separately, FCI Englewood near Littleton is a low-security facility with its own camp. These run on Bureau of Prisons rules, which are the same nationwide.

Funding works through the federal Trust Fund. You can send money online or by app through JPay, mail a money order or cashier's check made payable to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with the inmate's full name and register number on it to the national lockbox, or use Western Union. No cash, no personal checks.

The commissary is the only store in the federal system, and the inmate shops it in person on an assigned day each week, usually tied to their register number. You fund the account; they pick from what is in stock. The shelves cover food and drink mixes, hygiene, a limited clothing selection, stationery and stamps, some over-the-counter medicine, and at some facilities approved electronics.

On the money, general population inmates can spend up to $360 per month, and that limit resets monthly. Stamps, phone credits, and over-the-counter medicine generally fall outside the cap. In November and December the limit typically rises to $410 for holiday shopping. An inmate who refuses the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program gets knocked down to roughly $25 per month.

Federal care packages are not allowed. The Bureau prohibits outside food, clothing, or hygiene packages from family or friends. The narrow exceptions are publications shipped directly from a publisher or approved retailer, religious items cleared through the chaplain, and legal materials from an attorney or court.

For messaging, the federal system uses an email tool families reach through the CorrLinks portal, reviewed by staff and not confidential. To find someone in federal custody, use the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, which searches by name or register number.

Staying connected

Across all three systems the pattern is the same. Funding a canteen or trust account is how someone buys what they need day to day, outside packages are restricted and in Colorado often not allowed at all, and the rules shift by facility. The one thing that does not change is the mail. A letter and photos reach almost anyone inside, including someone whose canteen access is limited, which makes it the most reliable way to show up for your person while you sort out the rest.