I recently moved to my apartment (which I previously lived at from Nov 2004 to May 2005) and I've been living here for a little over two weeks now. The first week I recieved no mail period. This week I've recieved mail from my two GP TX pals. So far I have recieved NOTHING from any of my 3 DR Polunsky pals. I saw my closest pal last week and he told me he mailed two letters last week and so far I've recieved nothing. I recieved an e-mail from a friend of one of my other DR pals asking why I hadn't responded to his letter that he mailed out on 8/31, a letter I never got! I thought it was a mail problem on my side but now I'm thinking it's Polunsky's fault. I'm confused because when I lived here before I never had any mail problems. Should I call the Warden's office to see if my address has been blocked or something? Would my pal's be notified if my address was blocked, would I? Any suggestions on what I should do.

There is always mail problems on and off mostly on at Polunsky. Also Monday was a holiday and that delays the mail for longer then it should, but it does.
Also if you put in a change of address with the Post Office sometimes they can take awhile to get things straight.

But if I had to bet I would say it is a Polunsky problem. There are sometimes I get my mail from there quick and other times it takes forever.

Their mail problems don't seem to be for everyone at the same time. You can talk to 10 people and only 5 will be having problems and then the next week a different 5 are having problems.

I would wait and see if the mail starts coming in and if it doesn't you can call the mailroom. But to be honest with you it really won't get you anywhere.

:dance: Hope your mail starts flowing smoothly.

softie

Sweetie i understand sometimes my brothers letters would take 2 wks plus to get here and he is in GP at polunsky unit.. When i call to check on him they act like i am stalking him or something:angry: !! its not like i call up there all the time either.. i wrote him about 3 wks ago so i guess i will get a letter from him next mth:rolleyes: !!

Hope you get a letter soon!!

Jillian

Thanks softie and e_wife03. I called Polunsky about 5 minutes ago to schedule a Saturday visit with my pal and casual asked what happens when an inmate mails a letter to a blocked address. The Warden's secretary informed me that the letter would be returned back to the inmate. Well I guess I will take her word for now since the mailroom hadn't sent any of my letters back to my pal. I'll just wait and see if there is any luck with the rest of the week.

Well, I finally recieved a letter from a pal at Polunsky today and it was postmarked the 9th so that means (hopefully) that my mail is back on schedule. :)

I am so happy for you .. i hope that the mail remain on a constant schedule and you dont have to start worrying again.. mail is so important to us.. i see you said you were scheduling a visit .. i hope that it went well if you went today.

awwwwww that is GREAT, I am so happy you got a letter. Now lets hope that they keep coming and you won't have to start worrying anymore.

softie

I am so happy for you .. i hope that the mail remain on a constant schedule and you dont have to start worrying again.. mail is so important to us.. i see you said you were scheduling a visit .. i hope that it went well if you went today.

Yes it did, but it went by too fast as usual. My pal was worried because I usually come on Fridays and I mailed him a letter on Thursday telling him I was coming on Saturday but he hadn't recieved it yet so he thought something had happened to me.

I wrote my pal on monday he said he received it on Tuesday and I got a letter on Friday:) So no problems this way..yet:)

Actually I forgot to mention, I went by the PO on Friday to see what was up and they told me that Katrina is the reason for all the mail problems in this area. I somehow don't believe that but whatever, my roommates aren't having any mail problems. I recieved a letter from one of my pals's neighbor. It was first postmarked in Houston on 8/31 and then 3 days later postmarked in Omaha, Nebraska. It arrived to me on Friday I find this strange.

i have been so frustrated with mail at polunsky.....its gotten really bad here lately...it takes two weeks before i get one letter.....its aweful!!!!!

Well it's nice to know that I'm not the only one from my area having polunsky mail problems :) I was worried there for a second that it was just my mail.

Oh man, to get me started on mail problems at Polunsky! I go through periods of mail being ok and then........... I usually tolerate most of it, but when it gets bad I call the mail room and complain and then mail starts getting back to being ok. Once, the lady I talked to tried to tell me that they follow their rules of getting the letters out within a 24 hour time period. But she wasn't ready for me when I had like 7 letters from my husband and I gave her the dates over a weeks time and they were ALL postmarked the same day. She got quiet and said that she would log all his mail for two weeks to see what was going on and I could call her back to check on it. Well, my mail started coming on time again.

There was another time that mail started to get lousy so I called and she had the audacity to tell me that it wasn't the unit, but the LOCAL POST OFFICE that was holding the mail. That really insulted my intelligence if she thought I was going to believe that!!!

So, my husband and I don't get upset at each other that we might not be writing any more because we have gone through enough of the "mail room" excuses to realize that if there are days where we don't get letters, we know we will get about 4 or 5 at one time.

Just sharing my experiences with the "land of polunsky"

I was about to call the mail room tomorrow if I didn't get any mail today. I have yet to call the mail room in the 15 months I have been writing my pals.
I recieved two letters from my main pal (the one I visit) One postmarked Aug 31 and one postmarked Sept 6th. I recieved another letter from one of my pals postmarked the 31, not happy about how long it took but I'm very happy to have finally gotten them :)

Needless to say I'm very happy, although now I have a lot of reading to do but I haven't been doing much of that so I can't complain :D

Last Sunday at KDOL we asked everyone to call the Wardon's office. See the major problem is that the letters to the guys is taking an extra 4-7 days to get to them. Please, if you get a chance call them and let them know. There is strength in numbers :) Well either that or we will tick em off enough to get it right!

With hurricane Rita heading to Texas and Polunsky is receiving some extra prisoners from prisons that are being evacuated, you know the mail will probably be almost non existant for the rest of this week and then they will use the Rita as an excuse for next week too...... just a thought.

I evacuated on Tuesday from Galveston and I told my pal that he couldn't write me (since I'm not sure if my family is evacuating again from Houston) but I would write him everyday so he won't worry. He told me when I saw him on Wednesday that they got a few extra GP inmates but more were coming.

Here is an update on the mail, not just prison but the region that Rita is suppose to be hitting:

Updated September 21, 2005 - 8 p.m.
Latest Service Updates

Texas

Suspension of Drop Shipments into Texas 3-digit ZIP Codes 770, 773,
774 and 775

Effective immediately all drop shipments into 3-digit ZIP Codes 770,
773, 774 and 775 are suspended until further notice. This emergency
action has been taken due to the mandatory evacuations in these
areas due to Hurricane Rita.

Drop shipments destined for ZIP Codes 773, 774 and 775 can be
dropped at the North Houston Processing & Distribution Center
located at 4600 Aldine Bender Rd., Houston, TX 77315.

Drop shipments destined for ZIP Code 770 can be dropped at the
Houston GPO, 401 Franklin St., Houston, TX 77201.

Suspension of Drop Shipments into Texas 3-digit ZIP Codes 779, 783,
784 and 785

Effective immediately, drop shipments into 3-digit ZIP Codes 779,
783, 784 and 785 are suspended due to mandatory evacuations
resulting from Hurricane Rita. These shipments should be redirected
to SCF 782, San Antonio, TX.

Mailers with any questions regarding drop shipment suspensions or
redirections should contact their Business Service Network
representatives for additional information.

Retail and Delivery Service

Effective immediately, retail and delivery service in the following
3-digit Texas ZIP Code ranges are suspended: 773, 774, 775, 779,
783, 784 and 785.

This remains a dynamic situation and we will be posting system
changes as they occur and based on both weather conditions and in
accordance with instructions from Houston officials.

There is a phone number on the TDCJ site for families of offenders that might offer more info.
Gee what happened to the post office creed... nor rain nor snow nor dark of night :)

:eek: update on my mail woes. Well, It appears that mail has been held. My guy mailed a letter to me on the 7, and it wasn't received til the 13. I know this doesn't seem bad, well for time we had great turn around. If he mailed on the 7, i would have received the 8. we don't live far apart and its crazy. But in case any one else had woes I was letting you know.

Got a letter from a pal at Polunsky he dated 10/9/05 - postmarked 10/11/05 and received 10/15/05. Not bad.

dontmatter I am sorry about your mail, Polunsky has no rime or reason when it comes to mail and other things. One week my mail goes good and then the next week it takes weeks. And that is without any natural disasters or any other reason.

And it is never consistent, I have several friends at Polunsky and one's mail will come great while the others is taking days and then it switches around :rolleyes:

softie

My Baby Mailed Two Letters On The 8th, They Arrived Yesterday,the 15th