What Can You Send an Inmate in Jail or Prison?

You can send an inmate in jail or prison letters, approved photos, books and magazines from authorized sellers, money deposited through official channels, care packages ordered from contracted vendors, and medically necessary devices with prior approval. Everything else is almost certainly going to be rejected, and some items can get you charged with a federal crime. Rules differ between federal prisons, state systems, and county jails, so the single step that matters most before you mail anything is confirming the current policy at the specific facility, usually posted on its website or available by phone.

Letters, Cards, and Photos

Plain correspondence is the most universally accepted thing you can send. A letter on plain white paper in a white envelope will pass inspection at nearly every facility in the country. Federal prisons require exactly that, and anything else gets sent back.¹ Many state and county facilities follow similar standards.

Address the envelope with the inmate’s full legal name, their booking or identification number, the facility’s complete name, and its mailing address. Put your own full name and return address in the upper left corner. A missing detail is one of the most common reasons mail gets bounced back.

What goes inside matters just as much. Stick to the letter and photos. Do not include loose items, newspaper clippings, drawings in crayon or marker, stickers, glitter, perfume, or anything with an adhesive backing. Mail containing glitter, stickers, lipstick, crayon, marker, or fragrances will be rejected at federal facilities, because contraband has historically been concealed using those materials.¹

Photos are generally allowed but have content restrictions. Nudity, gang imagery, and anything depicting illegal activity will be confiscated. Most facilities limit photo size (typically 4×6 inches) and may cap how many you can send in one envelope. At many federal institutions, staff now photocopy all incoming correspondence and photos and deliver only the copies, using color copies for photos.

Greeting Cards and Holiday Mail

Birthday and holiday cards are accepted at many facilities, but they cannot contain batteries, music chips, metal pieces, or anything rigid enough to conceal contraband. A flat card on standard cardstock is the safest option. Multi-layered cards, pop-ups, and anything with glued-on decorations will almost certainly be rejected. Buy something simple and write your message in pen.

Books, Magazines, and Newspapers

Publications are allowed at most facilities, but the rules about who can send them are strict. In the federal system, hardcover books and newspapers must come directly from the publisher, a book club, or a bookstore. Softcover books face the same restriction at medium-security, high-security, and administrative institutions, though minimum and low-security facilities will accept softcovers from any source.² State and county jails usually follow a similar pattern: order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the publisher, and make sure the sender’s address is clearly printed on the outside of the package.

Sending used books from your home is generally not allowed at higher-security facilities. Some systems make exceptions for approved nonprofit book programs that screen and ship donated books. If a book is out of print and unavailable from standard retailers, a federal unit manager can grant an exception, but the inmate has to provide written proof the book can no longer be purchased through normal channels.²

Wardens have broad authority to reject publications they determine threaten institutional security. Under federal regulations, a publication can be rejected if it describes how to build weapons or explosives, details methods of escape, instructs readers in brewing alcohol or manufacturing drugs, is written in code, encourages violence or group disruption, or contains sexually explicit material that threatens institutional order.³ A warden cannot reject a publication solely because it is religious, political, or unpopular. Wardens may also set local limits on how many publications an inmate can keep in a cell for fire safety or sanitation reasons.² Check the facility’s cap before ordering a stack of books.

Sending Money

You cannot mail cash or a personal check directly to an inmate at most facilities. Instead, you deposit funds into their commissary or trust account, which works like a debit account for approved snacks, hygiene products, phone time, and other items. The common deposit methods are electronic transfers through services like JPay, ConnectNetwork, or Access Corrections; money orders mailed to the facility or a central processing address; and in-person deposits at facility lobbies or kiosks.

You will need the inmate’s full legal name, their identification number, and the facility name. A mismatched name or ID can delay the deposit for weeks or cause it to be returned.

Fees and Spending Caps

Electronic transfer services charge fees that eat into whatever you send, and the fees hit hardest on small amounts. Flat fees of $2 to $8 are common on transfers under $100. On a $20 deposit, a $5 or $6 fee is a 25 to 30 percent surcharge. Money orders avoid electronic fees but cost a dollar or two and take longer to post. Sending larger amounts less frequently loses less to fees overall.

Federal prisons cap monthly commissary spending at $360, with an additional $50 allowance during the November and December holiday period.⁴ State facilities set their own limits, which vary widely. Depositing more than the cap is not wasted, since the excess stays in the account for future months, but the inmate cannot spend beyond the limit in a single month.

Garnishment for Court-Ordered Obligations

If the inmate owes court-ordered restitution, fines, or child support, the facility may withhold a percentage of every deposit before the inmate can spend it. The federal Bureau of Prisons runs the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program, which deducts a portion of incoming funds based on the inmate’s total deposits over the prior six months.⁵ The percentage goes up as total deposits climb. Ask the inmate whether withholding applies before you send money, so the balance that lands is not a surprise.

Care Packages

Many facilities allow care packages, but only through pre-approved third-party vendors under contract with the facility. You cannot box up items from home. You visit the vendor’s website, browse a catalog of items the facility has already cleared, and place an order that ships directly from the vendor. Common items include shelf-stable snacks, hygiene products, stationery, and sometimes clothing basics like socks or underwear.

Facilities typically limit care packages to one per quarter and impose a dollar cap per order, often in the $100 to $150 range. Because the vendor handles compliance, everything in the catalog is already approved. Check the facility’s website for its approved vendor list and ordering schedule.

Digital Messages and Phone Calls

Physical mail is no longer the only way to communicate. Most state prison systems and a growing number of jails offer electronic messaging through tablets issued to inmates. Services like GTL/ViaPath (ConnectNetwork) and Securus dominate this market, and families create an account on the provider’s platform to send text-based messages and digital photos.

The cost per electronic message generally runs between $0.15 and $0.50, depending on the facility’s contract. Attaching a photo or short video often doubles the per-message price. Some providers offer bulk packages at a lower per-message rate. Content rules for digital messages mirror the rules for physical mail: no nudity, no gang imagery, no threats, nothing that could compromise security.

The FCC has capped the cost of phone and video calls from correctional facilities. Under permanent rate caps adopted in 2024, audio calls from prisons are capped at $0.06 per minute, with jail rates ranging from $0.06 to $0.12 per minute depending on facility size. Interim video call rate caps range from $0.11 to $0.25 per minute for jails.⁶ Voice and video calls are now an affordable complement to written mail.

Medical Devices and Release Clothing

You generally cannot ship personal belongings, but medical devices are an exception. In the federal system, the only packages an inmate may receive from home are release clothing within 30 days of their release date and authorized medical devices. Hearing aids, eyeglasses, dentures, wheelchairs, braces, orthopedic shoes, and artificial limbs can be sent if the facility’s health services administrator confirms they are medically necessary and approves the shipment.⁷ Inmates may keep up to two pairs of eyeglasses as personal property.

Do not ship a medical device without advance approval. Contact the facility’s health services department first, get written authorization, and follow their instructions. Unapproved medical packages will be rejected or confiscated.

Items That Are Always Prohibited

Every correctional facility bans the same core categories, regardless of security level. Sending some of these items is a federal crime.

Drugs and alcohol, including any controlled substance, prescription medication not dispensed by the facility, and alcoholic beverages.
Weapons and weapon components, including firearms, ammunition, knives, and anything that could be fashioned into a weapon, including metal or glass objects.
Electronics of any kind: cell phones, smartwatches, USB drives, cameras, chargers, and any battery-powered device. A musical greeting card with a small battery counts.
Cash and personal checks. Money must go through approved deposit channels.
Outside food and perishables, which are rejected at virtually every facility. Approved care package vendors are the only exception.
Sexually explicit or graphically violent material that threatens institutional order.
Concealment risks: stickers, glitter, glue, paint, crayon, marker, lipstick, perfume, Polaroid photos, multi-layered cards, colored paper, and colored envelopes. Drugs can be dissolved into paper, hidden under stickers, or masked by fragrances.

When in doubt, don’t send it. Mailroom staff will not call you to negotiate. They will reject the item, and in some cases the inmate faces disciplinary consequences for receiving prohibited mail even without any part in sending it.

How Facilities Screen Incoming Mail

Every piece of mail and every package is opened and inspected before an inmate sees it. At many federal facilities, staff photocopy all incoming general correspondence and deliver only the copies, keeping originals for a set period before destroying them.¹ The photocopying policy, adopted in late 2024, was designed to prevent drug-soaked paper from reaching inmates, and it has spread to state systems.

First-class letters typically reach the inmate within a few days to a week after arriving at the facility. Books and packages can take two weeks or longer, especially during holiday seasons, lockdowns, or staffing shortages. Mail that raises suspicion during screening will sit longer for additional review. Do not expect same-week delivery on anything.

Criminal Penalties for Sending Contraband

Under federal law, anyone who provides or attempts to provide a prohibited object to a prison inmate commits a crime, and the penalties scale sharply with what you tried to send.⁸

Narcotics like methamphetamine, LSD, or PCP: up to 20 years in federal prison.
Firearms or most Schedule I/II controlled substances: up to 10 years.
Marijuana, Schedule III substances, ammunition, or other weapons: up to 5 years.
A cell phone, alcohol, or currency: up to 1 year.
Any other object threatening institutional security: up to 6 months.

State laws impose their own penalties on top of federal charges, and prosecutors do pursue these cases. People have been charged for soaking paper in drug solutions and mailing it as a regular letter, which is why facilities now photocopy incoming mail. If someone asks you to slip something into an envelope, understand that you are being asked to commit a felony.

If Your Mail Is Rejected

When a facility rejects mail or a publication, the inmate typically receives written notice explaining the reason, and the inmate is usually the one who can file a formal challenge through the facility’s grievance process. State and county procedures vary. From the outside, the practical move is to contact the facility’s mailroom directly, ask why the item was rejected, fix the issue, and resend correctly.

1
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Message From the Director and CPL-33 President
2
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement P5266.11 Incoming Publications
3
eCFR. 28 CFR 540.71 – Procedures
4
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual CN-1
5
Federal Register. Inmate Financial Responsibility Program Procedures
6
FCC. FCC Caps Exorbitant Phone and Video Call Rates
7
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5580.08 Inmate Personal Property
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1791 – Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison