Hey..
What do you think? Should I call and complain....or just be quiet?

Joey has been getting so much mail. He loves it and appreciates it so very much! The mail room there at Ventress has already complained about his perfumed letters and told him they would not be allowing any more in to him.

Now..a very good friend has sent him mail that he has not received. One piece they returned saying it was the wrong AIS number....but it wasn't. Another returned card had "inmate not accepting mail" stamped on it. Joey says it is just a bunch of bull down in the mail room and they are mad because he is getting so much mail. He received ALOT of cards for his birthday from PTO.

I have sent Joey a money order which I can't find the receipt for....it hasn't been credited. It was a small amount thank goodness!

I want to call them and complain....but I do not want to make it any worse. Is there a limit on amount of mail at Ventress?

:)
Kay

There should be no limits at any Alabama facility and if a facility is doing it than they are violating US Postal Service regulations and that's a serious Federal infraction. And if he is not getting mail that he should, same thing. Kay, you should probably do one (or all) of three things:

- call the mailroom supervisor and threaten to file a complaint with the US Postal Service;

- call Commissioner Campbell's office to lodge a complaint about same and tell them you're threatening to complain to the USPS;

- or go right ahead and file a complaint with the USPS.

There are some rules they can make on their own at the facility (like the perfumed letters) but if there is a serious problem with an inmate not getting the mail they legitimately should be getting, that is a postal violation and is very serious. They are required to abide by USPS regulations about people getting their mail just like anyone else and frankly I'm still considering filing a complaint about Easterling returning mail that didn't have the facility name on it, because if it's not required by the USPS (and it's not) then that would be a Federal mail infraction too. They never returned any of mine but it still irks me that god knows how many other people got theirs returned and in most cases lost their postage money in the process. Also considering complaining to the post office in general anyway because mail's taking longer than it should to get to the addressee there. Mailroom's tend to listen when the USPS comes down on them because they KNOW they are supposed to be conforming to postal regulations just like anyone else....

Kay, I would just file a complaint with the postal service! I hope Michael is getting all of his letters!!

Kay...you call them all just like Lynn said. They can make up there own rules about the mail...We ran into the same thing at Atmore over a year ago. I called the mail room and "treated" to call the USPS and guess what!!! he never missed another piece. I too put perfume on my letters along with lipstick kissess too...Kenny was so far away back then that i could visit like i do know and the letters were so very important to him...good luck and be sure to let us know how you decided to handle it...

take care...love and hugggss

DeniseJ

I called the mail room supervisor and he was actually very polite. He said there was no problem with Joey's mail volume...and that if mail had been returned it was for a rule infraction...no AIS number or addressed wrong. He said the last piece of returned mail was for no AIS...they had it on record. I am just not one to make too many waves...but since I brought his attention to it, maybe it will improve. I hope!

Kay

Kay,
I called the warden this past Tuesday about the mail. I first talked with the mailroom supervisor who gave me every excuse in the world but would never admit to the mail being held or slow. The next day my fiance recieved mail from the 14th, 16th, and 17th and my son recieved his mail from TWO WEEKS before that. The warden called my son into his office and asked if he was having problems. Now, it seems the mail is running smoothly. We have to let them know when there is a problem because outsiders are heard more loudly than our loved ones.