I just started writing to those on Polunky and I was wondering what they are allowed to receive in packages? any info you may have would be terrific:)
thanks!

BillieJo hey im from Texas and as far as I know you CANNOT send any packages to the units on your own. Any hygene or food you cannot send to any prison unit. The ONLY thing you can send them is paper, envelopes, and books (*if i think of something else i'll come add it*) and the paper n envelopes have to be mailed out of an Office Depot or from any vendor, books of course from a bookstore but you cannot mail it out urself it will not go thru it will be denied. Umm other than that if you want to help him get hygene, soups, or anything else you would have to put money on his books. Ask him to send you a money slip if you are wanting to do this and you will mail a money order to Hunstville to the Inmate Trust Fund. Any other questions i might be able to answer let me know ;]

Billijo
You can send them books through amazon or barnes and noble (those kind of sites), and you can also send them stationary, nothing with staples on it, through office depot and places like that. :) They have to come from a distrubutor to the prison.
Also to, you can send money if you wanted, but need to get an inmate trust fund slip to send.
Hope this helps a little!!!

Correct me if I am wrong but can't you also send money to their account via western union?

yes you can

thank you guys! I hope that somewhere I can help someone...

if anyoen has any ideas about stuff to do for those on DR with no support from the outside, please PM me....

right now my nine year old is thinking of how to start a peer group thru Sunday School to help anyone in prison with no family- and esp those on DR.. don't know if that is too much for him or not........ I think that its never too young to try and help the world..... but he is so young!

Billijo
Thats unreal about your son :)
My kids write to my guy on death row, they draw him pictures, write him little stories, and he absolutely loves it. He calls up here (His in county) and he doesnt want to talk to me, only the kids. :) (well not at 4am when he calls my time). Its the little things like that mean the world to them!!

Its really nice to reach out to someone, and what you are doing is great. Just a friend to reach out to and have support to these guys means so much :)

Hey!

I have a guy on DR at Polusnky that I've been corresponding with since December, and I've been going to see him weekly since the end of April (I live in Huntsville -- which makes it easy to make the visits).

As far as what you can put inside the letters you send -- you can send pictures (I've heard there's a limit of 4, but I send like 20 at a time, and so far I've never had a problem and/or had them sent back).

I also send him post cards whenever I go anywhere (even if it's just to a different city in Texas). You might have your Sunday School Class all send offenders a post card from where you're from (a lot of them haven't had the opportunity to even really travel around Texas).

You can also send a SMALL sheet of stickers (no more than maybe 5 or 6 at a time). I've done it twice now and he's received them. (He said it sometimes depends on who's working the mailroom, but normally they don't say anything about a small number of stickers).

You cannot send stamps -- they have to buy those through commisary!

On the postings, people have already mentioned that stationary, books, magazines, etc... all have to be ordered through the company/publisher. I order everything through Amazon or Office Depot (but you can use just about anywhere).

One thing they didn't note is you can send PAGES out of books or magazines -- you just can't send the whole thing. I send my penpal the puzzle and joke pages out of every magazine I find in our break room. (It gives him something to do and/or smile about).

I also know of a couple that reads a book together. She buys it, and then she reads the first 15 pages, pulls them out and mails them to him. Then they have something to discuss at visits (and they only have to buy the book once). :)

You can also send newspaper clippings (funny comics, funny articles, etc...).

I noticed that people mentioned sending money to the ITF (Inmate Trust Fund).

If that's something you are interested in, it can be done in three ways:
1) Ask the offender to send you a deposit slip (that's the only way you can get one). Then you have to purchase a money order and mail it to the ITF office.

2) Western Union Quick Collect -- but this costs like $9.00 to do. They do get it within 24 hours, but I wouldn't recommend it -- they don't really have a reason to need money that quickly (at least not from pen pals).

3) If you establish a good friendship and decide you want to make monthly deposits, you can have TDCJ debit your checking account once a month (on the 5th or 15th) for a predetermined amount. You have to fill out a withdrawl form (found on the TDCJ website) and send them a voided check.

I hope that some of this helped! If you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know.

ALSO -- don't worry if you send something you think they can't have (like a bookmark, etc...). As long as it's not "dangerous" or "suspicious" (i.e. drugs, flowers, etc...) they won't get in trouble. They'll just be given your letter and then a form they have to sign that says they understand that such-and-such item was denied. Then they have the option to either send it back to you or have it destroyed. (I tell my pen pal to not waste his money, and just to have anything like that destroyed). They can also petition to keep the item, but I don't know what we'd send that would be worth really petitioning over.