Does anyone have a link to the policy with the mailrooms in Federal Institutions go by? If so, could you please post it or PM it to me please?
Does each individual mailroom have their own policies concerning mail, or it is the same for every institution within the BOP?

Thanks for any and all help,
Tracey x

Like so many other things the policy in the mailroom varies from institution to institution and sometimes depending on whose working from day today. The best thing to do is to call the mailroom itself and ask whatever you are concerned about, the person who happens to answer the phone will not have correct information and tell you what they think. An officer in the mail room will(should) know what the policies are and be sure you get a name so if there is a question later you will have verification of who you spoke with.

Like so many other things the policy in the mailroom varies from institution to institution and sometimes depending on whose working from day today. The best thing to do is to call the mailroom itself and ask whatever you are concerned about, the person who happens to answer the phone will not have correct information and tell you what they think. An officer in the mail room will(should) know what the policies are and be sure you get a name so if there is a question later you will have verification of who you spoke with.

Thanks for the information that you have provided. :thumbsup:
Ive tried calling over there to the mailroom and spoke to the officer who is working in there, who keeps rejecting my mail. He stated that it is in the policy that inmates cant receive blank greeting cards and envelopes. When i askedwhere in the policy it says that, he couldnt tell me! Ive since found on the BOP website, their written policies on 'Correspondence' and 'Mailroom Management manual', and nowhere in either does it state that it isnt allowed!

A blank card (that an inmate could send to someone else) would not be considered correspondence. It would be considered a gift, and gifts to inmates are prohibited.

A blank card (that an inmate could send to someone else) would not be considered correspondence. It would be considered a gift, and gifts to inmates are prohibited.

Thanks for that Susan.
Its all crazy to me, because for the past 6 years i have sent him cards... b'day, xmas & easter cards for him to send to his family. Theyve always gotten in, no problems. Ive even sent some to the prison that hes in now, and they have allowed it. Then along comes this different officer, and he's returning everything!! :mad:

Well, you lucked out for six years!! Be grateful. :) Z.

as for sending blank envelopes without them getting rejected I don't have a suggestion ..... but as far as the card issue goes if you want to send him a "blank" card all you should have to do is write something (any message basically) on the card in PENCIL and when he receives it all he would have to do is erase the writing. Also, if you are concerned about writing "the message" in pencil I believe they still sell "eraser-mate" type pens out there. Since the person inspecting it would only see ink and would not try to erase it to test it anyway that would most likely work.

Mail room personel can be really fickle. For over a year I received magazines mailed from a friend with a note written on a note pad that looked like a huge (4 1/2" X 11") Million dollar bill. One day they returned the package to him saying it was counterfeit money.

they can receive cards to send out from the chaplain....not as nice as what you are getting at Hallmark but it is the thougth that counts.
my cellie made them for guys that were sometimes a lot better than those you would find at Hallmark:) ...... they went anywhere from 1 to 5 books

At some institutions, the chaplains have stopped giving out cards - and the commissary no longer sells them also. They're becoming rare and valuable. Z.

I met someone on here a couple of years ago that lived nearby. She spent time with "MARTHA" at Alderson. I sent her "Guidepost" mags all the time. When I sent some to my son at Edgefield Camp, they promptly sent them back, no note or anything. Hopefully he'll be home in May 2007, so I'm not signing up for any mags now. I'm sure the mailroom there would not except a blank card or anything with stickers or possibly written in pencil.