To send a money order to an inmate, buy a U.S. postal money order, write the inmate’s full committed name and identification number on the payee line, fill in your own name and return address, and mail it by itself to the correctional system’s centralized processing lockbox. For federal inmates, every deposit goes to a single address in Des Moines, Iowa, regardless of which prison houses the inmate. Get the name, number, or envelope wrong and the money order bounces back; leave off your return address and the funds can end up in a U.S. Treasury account you’ll struggle to recover from.1eCFR. 28 CFR 506.2 – How May Family, Friends, or Other Sources Deposit Funds Into an Inmate Commissary Account?
Confirm the Name, Number, and Facility First
Before you buy anything, you need three pieces of information: the inmate’s full legal name as it appears in correctional records, their assigned identification number, and the facility currently housing them. Nicknames, shortened names, or married names that don’t match official records will get the deposit rejected.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual
Federal register numbers are eight digits in the format #####-###. You can look them up free on the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator at bop.gov, which covers anyone in the federal system from 1982 forward.3Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal Inmates By Number For state inmates, use the state Department of Corrections website, or search DHS-VINE at vinelink.dhs.gov, which covers participating state systems and runs around the clock.4VINElink. DHS-VINE
Confirm the facility close to the time you mail. Inmates transfer between units and institutions with little warning to families, and a payment sent while a transfer is pending can land in limbo if the processing center can’t match it to a current custody record.
Buy the Right Kind of Money Order
The federal Bureau of Prisons accepts money orders, U.S. government checks, cashier’s checks, certified checks, and bank drafts. Personal checks and cash sent through the mail are rejected outright.5Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using the United States Postal Service State systems have similar restrictions, though some will take personal checks with long holds.
A U.S. postal money order is the safest choice. It’s recognized everywhere, and at the federal level it clears faster than any other paper instrument. USPS charges $2.55 for amounts up to $500 and $3.60 for $500.01 to $1,000, with a $1,000 cap per money order.6United States Postal Service. Money Orders Banks and credit unions sell money orders too, though bank fees often run $5 or more. Grocery and retail chains sell them for about $1 to $2 through providers like Western Union or MoneyGram, also capped at $1,000. To send more than $1,000, buy multiple money orders.
The BOP rejects and returns any instrument that is missing the inmate’s committed name or eight-digit register number, has expired, looks altered or forged, is a prohibited type (personal check, counter check, cash, foreign instrument not payable in U.S. dollars), or arrives in an envelope with no return address. If the envelope has a return address, the processing center mails the rejected instrument back. If it doesn’t, the funds go into the U.S. Treasury’s miscellaneous receipts account.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual
Fill Out the Money Order Correctly
On the “Pay to the Order of” line, write the inmate’s full legal name followed by the identification number. For a federal inmate, that reads something like “John A. Smith 12345-678.” Many facilities recommend repeating the ID number on the memo line in case the payee line is hard to read.
Fill in your full legal name and complete return address in the purchaser section. This isn’t optional. Federal regulations require a return address so the processing center can send the money order back if the inmate has been released, transferred, or if something on the form is wrong.1eCFR. 28 CFR 506.2 – How May Family, Friends, or Other Sources Deposit Funds Into an Inmate Commissary Account? Sign the purchaser’s signature line before mailing. An unsigned money order can’t be processed.
Hold onto the receipt stub. It’s your proof of purchase and the only way to trace a lost money order later.
Mail It to the Processing Lockbox
Most correctional systems use a centralized lockbox rather than accepting deposits at individual prisons. For every federal inmate, deposits go to the same address in Des Moines, no matter which facility houses them:
Federal Bureau of Prisons
[Inmate Name]
[Eight-Digit Register Number]
Post Office Box 474701
Des Moines, Iowa 50947-00015Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using the United States Postal Service
Write the inmate’s committed name and register number on the outside of the envelope too. Lockbox staff use the envelope information to sort mail before opening it, and envelopes without this information get rejected.
Don’t put anything else in the envelope. No letter, no photo, no card. The regulation is blunt: enclosures not intended as a deposit “will be disposed of.”1eCFR. 28 CFR 506.2 – How May Family, Friends, or Other Sources Deposit Funds Into an Inmate Commissary Account? The processing center won’t forward your note to the inmate or return it to you. It goes in the trash. Send personal mail through the facility’s regular inmate mail address, which is different from the lockbox.
Consider Priority Mail or certified mail. The tracking number gives you proof of delivery if the deposit doesn’t post. If enough time has passed for the envelope to have arrived in Des Moines and the inmate’s account still shows no deposit, the BOP recommends starting a tracer with whoever sold you the money order.5Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using the United States Postal Service
How Long Until the Funds Post
The federal system places an automatic 15-day hold on most negotiable instruments so they can clear. U.S. postal money orders are exempt from that hold, along with government-issued checks and certain other instruments.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual That exemption is a real reason to pick a postal money order over a cashier’s check or bank draft, which sit in hold for the full 15 days. Foreign negotiable instruments payable in U.S. dollars face a 45-day hold. State processing centers generally post deposits within two to ten business days, with weekends and holidays stretching that out; each state publishes its own timelines.
What the Inmate Actually Receives
Not every dollar you deposit may end up available for commissary spending. If the inmate owes court-ordered restitution, fines, or child support, the correctional system can deduct a percentage of incoming deposits before the balance reaches the inmate. The federal Inmate Financial Responsibility Program requires participating inmates to make regular payments toward their obligations, and state systems run similar programs with deduction rates that can reach 50% of each deposit. The deductions happen automatically at the institutional level; the sender can’t opt out.
Spending is capped too. The Bureau of Prisons limits monthly commissary purchases to $360, with an extra $50 allowed in November and December. Postage stamps, over-the-counter medications, and copy supplies are excluded from the cap.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual State caps typically run $200 to $400 per month. A large deposit doesn’t speed up spending; the balance just carries forward.
If the Money Order Is Lost or Never Posts
For a USPS money order that doesn’t reach the inmate’s account, file a Money Order Inquiry using PS Form 6401 at any post office. You’ll need the receipt stub from your purchase. The inquiry costs $21 and is nonrefundable regardless of outcome.6United States Postal Service. Money Orders The Postal Service will either refund the money order or send you a copy of the cashed version, but the process takes at least 60 days from the original issue date. Check status by calling 1-866-974-2733.7United States Postal Service. PS Form 6401 – Domestic Money Order Inquiry If the original money order turns up and gets cashed after you’ve been refunded, USPS will demand the refund back.
For money orders from Western Union, MoneyGram, or another issuer, the replacement process and fees differ; contact the issuer using the information on your receipt. Without the receipt, recovery is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible.
When an Electronic Deposit Might Make More Sense
Money orders aren’t the only option. Many facilities contract with private vendors, including JPay, ConnectNetwork, and Western Union’s inmate transfer service, that let you deposit funds using a debit card, credit card, or cash at a retail kiosk.8Western Union. Send Money to an Inmate Electronic deposits typically post within one to two business days, sometimes within hours. The tradeoff is cost: service fees often run several dollars per transaction, and a credit card payment may trigger a cash advance fee from your card issuer on top of that. For regular senders, those fees add up faster than postal money order fees. Not every prison uses the same vendor, so check which service the inmate’s facility accepts before setting up an account.