How is Mail call carried out for the prisoners?
I have a vision that they do it like on the show M.A.S.H.

Do the prison officials open every letter so it is all crumpled up or what?

Do other prisoners know who gets mail or not?

When my brother was a CO at South Central Corrections in Clifton, Tennessee, one of his duties was mail call. He said that the mail would come in a yellow mail bag, already seperated by pod, already opened and gone through. He would sort the mail by cell and physically hand it out to the inmates, but in the pod where he worked, there was only 2-man cells. Where Wayne is, it's more of a dorm-type facility with about 150 men and when they have a mail call, the CO announces the name and hands the mail out one letter at a time. Wayne said they have to stay on their rack until their name is called and then return to their rack; they're not allowed to go to where the CO is handing out mail, unless it's their turn. If they have 3 letters, then they have to make 3 trips to where the CO is.

All of his mail is opened and a lot of times the letters are torn in the opening process.

In the IL state prison where I worked the mail was also delivered to each "housing unit" by an officer already opened and gone through.... They did it one of two ways... they either called out the guys names who had mail and had them come to the "bubble" (control room) to get it... or they took it cell to cell when the guys were locked up for count and slid it under the cell door.

it is done like that here in texas.. well it is that way where anthony is at. they sometimes just slide it under the door if they do not get to it until late.. Sometimes they do not get mail until 11 pm.. they are just lax about it. they do it when they want to .

hey does any one know if all the prisons go threw and open the inmates mail? i heard that High Desert State Prison doesnt open the inmates mail.

thanks,
samantha

Every prison I know of opens mail to see if there's contraband or anything in it. I've never heard of a prison that doesn't.

When I worked in Seg, I passed out the mail. For each one who had mail, he had to call out his tdc # and I had to verify it on the envelope before I gave him the letter. And, at this unit, they do open and check all the mail before the inmate receives it. I was told that they had so long to get the mail to the inmates. I believe it was 24 hrs. from the time it arrived.

David gets his mail opened, but in relatively good condition. They separate it in the mail room according to the dorm units and then they separate it again once it gets to the dorm, and the CO does a MASH style mail call in the dayroom. I'm pretty sure that all prisons open and inspect the mail. I've also heard that the CO's who are jerks will read the prisoners mail... but haven't heard that about David's camp. My 2 cents,...

usually ALL mail gets opened....and if you place return address labels on the envelope or any cute little stickers, please don't, because they ALL have to be cut off of the envelopes and letters before the inmates get them, so sometimes they will get a letter with the return address cut off and they don't know who it is from or their letters will be full of holes where the stickers were cut off...so it is better not to put any stickers or labels of any kind on your mail

my kids colored pictures for daddy and they would not let him have them. anyone know why?

I think that it all depends on who's checking and handing out the mail *smile* I palced stickers on all my letters and my man and pen-pals recived it okay(or they where lying not to hurt my feelings), I also sent, stamps, Photo's(polaroids) The first couple of times they recived them Okay. Then I started to get them sent back with no, no letters. Bookie( My man) they sent back my photo's and stamps. Mike(pen-pal) They cut my photo up so he told me about that. But, one time I recived a letter back with a big stamp on it stating that "no letters will be alowed in this insution with stickers on it". So I cut them all off resent it at asked Mike about it. He said that he knew about the no sticker policy and was really suprized that he recived all my letters before, that. He thinks that somebody in the mail room was being a butt *laughing*. The other two recive there things with no problem. I really can't make hine hair of all of it.

I hate how mail works in prison....I just wish it could be changed with a snap of the fingers

I hate the mail system too. He gets my letters in about 5 days but it takes only 3 days for his to get to me. Where he is, they slide his mail under his door. I feel sorry for his celly cuz he never gets mail and it hurts him to see my boo getting letters all the time.

I write Jeff everyday, and he works for the Prison Dog care program so when he is at work the officers put his mail on his bunk and he always tells me that he cant seem to get back to his cell fast enough to see if something is waiting on his bed. He said that the officers are pretty cool with the mail, they open it with a letter opener so not to ruin my mail and he said they just skim it for key words etc. His bunky is pretty cool, I guess he has a girlfriend too so they both get mail on a regular basis, however my boyfriend is constantly hounded by his guy friends to get me to find some of my gurlies to write them. If my friends were accepting of it then yea i would, but i mentioned it once and i got laughed at. Anyways, I wish that everyones mail to their loved ones is respected, just because our babies are inmates doens't mean they should get their mail differently.

i hate the mail system. I sent my hunny mail, with pics in it more then 2 weeks ago, and he still hasnt receieved or heard anything about it. ggrrrrr....

most prisons open the mail that comes into the facility, they don't always open the letters that the inmates send out. it varies. the prison I volunteer in, opens the mail and if you forget and stick cute little stickers all over your envelope...they will cut them completely off before the inmate gets your letter sometimes even the return address label is cut off..then the inmate has to "guess" who the letter is from unless the letter has the person's address and name repeated in it. also we have to put the inmates complete address on the letter along with their DOC # and their dorm room #s. it is always best to put complete addresses on the letter to make sure they are not returned to you because you left off something

They only open every mail and read EVERY LINE when inmates are on STG (security threat groups) or are in segeration. In general, they would open mails that has lipstick on it, looks buffy like 10 pages in an envelope, colored envelopes, and/or an envelope with a drawing on it. If mail's thicker than 1/4 inch, they send it back. Otherwise, they would look on the front and back of every envelopes of inmates in general population then pass it out. Inmates in SMU (special medical unit) and IMU (mental unit) get mail in the morning like 8-11ish. Segeration gets mail whenever. General population get mail around 4ish. Interesting, huh?

I Use Stamps Instead Of Stickers Now The Prison System Allows Stamps But Not Stickers And You Can Get Really Cute Stamps In Different Colord For Really Cheap Prices At Craft Stores

All of the locations that my sweetheart has been priviledged to visit have a different system of handling mail.

At county they took off the stamps and the back flap...yet at other locations it is barely opened, not much disturbed...a couple months ago I sent over 50 photographs of our vacation with a long letter explaining each one and it went through with no problem. I do know the most places do NOT accept polorids. If you have questions, don't hesitate to call the facility...if you honestly don't want to break the rules and treat them with respect things go smoothly.

Knowing that his mail WILL be opened...come on guys, it IS prison!...I've taken to writing a note to the mail openers every now and again...sometimes it is just a simple "Hi there, thank you for the job you do, or have a good day". Think about it from the employee standpoint, could you imagine how
B O R I N G it must be to read or scan every single bit of mail that comes in to how many thousands of prisoners a day! Yes, there are things about the mail system that are frustrating, but let's not forget it is prison and 98% of our loved ones are there becuase of their own behaviour.

Milady

As far as I know they read ALL incoming mail...or scan it at least for key words.

My boyfriend is in a smaller facility, so they don't do mail call. He says the mail is waiting on his bed when he gets back to his cell, opened but still in the envelope. I've never used stickers, so I don't know about any of that...but I have sent pictures and I even sent this styrafoam airbrush thing with our names on it that I bought at the fair and they have never returned anything.

I know it takes forever for him to get MY mail, his things I receive a day after he sends it...I guess it depends on the facility.

Honestly I do not think they read everyones mail...they open all of them, but they really have better things to do, ya know, how can they possibly read ALL the mail? BUT, you never know if they read them or listen to your calls, so we are very aware of being watched at all times. It does depend on the facility and the situation.