Another question about postage.

It's been established we can't send postage in because of drug tainted stamps.

Why can't we order postage online from the Postal Department to send an inmate?

You can buy postage online and have it mailed out. It is packaged and shipped by the Postal Service.

Why? why? why?

Anyone want to shoot that idea down for me! LOL

PERSONALLY, I LIKE THE IDEA VERY MUCH, AND IT MAKES PERFECTLY GOOD SENSE TO ME.

SHERRI

I am going to ask about that at the place where Stephen is..I will let you know what they say

Amelia on the state level they will tell you no.. They do not allow us to send in stamps via the post office. They are using stamps like money in there and want to kind of monitor what is going on.. That is what the wardens office and the mailroom told me. They will refuse the stamps and you will end up losing money in the long run....

guess that shoots that idea down....:(

stamps = cash = purchase of contraband.
Yep I think that idea is shot out of the sky.

I know this is too much to ask but why not allow it but restrict it to one book of stamps a month. They can keep up with how many rolls of toilet paper (sometime how many squares) and how many pairs of underwear those guys can own. LOL

How about contacting the individual prison we want to help and just set up a special "stamp" project. We send so many stamps that can be afforded and the inmates are able to request a book. May have to limit them to like 1 every two weeks or something like that. But they are there and available for the inmate to get if needed without having to purchase them.

NICE IDEA,JOY

Good idea joy, but how do you get the stamps into the system?

Contact the warden and set up the idea. I'll work on this and get back with you in a couple of days with a start up idea and see what you all think about it.

Joy

Just another suggestion.

The post office also sells prepaid envelopes that are ink stamped with postage. Maybe they will be more willing to accept those.
Michelle

I didn't know they did that. That is a good idea. I'll ask if those will be allowed when I make my inquiries.

Thanks
Joy

let us know what you find out joy.-

Alright guys....I think I have it figured out. However, it is going to take some work. Ok, I am going to try to explain this as simple as I can.

1. Buy a postage meter from the Post Office. You know, the machines that you set how much postage to put on the enevelope and run the envelopes through.

2. Ask for donations and collect boxes of envelopes. People can go to Wal-Mart, Dollar stores, whatever and donate boxes of envelopes. Take out the envelopes, run them through the postage meter and put them back in the box.

3. With the dummy business address these boxes of envelopes and stationary can be sent to the inmates that request help.

I will find out how much these postage meters cost and then start asking local church's, everyone and anyone I can to donate money to buy one of these. Then get my P.O. address out and have donations sent here. Give people my E-mail address to request these items to be sent to their family members. This will be a small project at first and hopefully will grown. I would like to start with our family members first and the Inmates on DR at Polunsky.

I will have the full plan put forth in a proposal by the end of next week. I know this will work and with volunteers, church's, word of mouth, we can help these guys bring some humanity to their world. I have other ideas I am working on, but I have to start small and work my way up.

So, what do you think?

:fb: :fb: I want to to this!!!!!!! I know it can work!!!!:fb:

Joy

EXCELLENT!!! I BELIEVE IT CAN WORK TOO.

Joy I give you an A for effort and please let me know if I can assist you with anything.
Michelle

JOy, give me a call and let me know how I can help ya-- Iam very interested in this!!

I'm also very interested

Joy,
How is this idea going? I don't know about where you are but the psotage meters are very expensive here. Even for a used one.

If so I wonder if the Post Office would have a way to run post cards/envelopes through a post meter at the post office?

Maybe someone's office would allow someone to buy postage off thier meter?

Alright, after having started making phone calls and finding out rules and regulations and having doors slammed in my face because I was even "thinking" about helping the guys on death row, I have some questions. I need you guys to put your thinking caps on and help me out here.

The first step here is to get approval of pre-stamped envelopes. Of course they are not allowed. Only time a prisoner can use a pre-stamped envelope like that is from a religious organization where they can fill out a form and send it in.

The reason for not allowing these? They are a negotiable item, the inmates will use these to buy things from other inmates so they are not allowed. Now, my question here is, inmates on Death Row are not allowed contact with anyone, how can they sell these? (sorry if I am naive about this subject).

Inmates are only allowed to purchase stamps from the commissary only. Basically, I see it boils down to money.

But, this is my proposal. Once I can get this approved, then I will think about how to get the pre-stamped envelopes. I am going to write a proposal (the $ I spent on my Bachelors in Business should come in handy here :) )

This proposal will go to the Warden which is the person that has the authority to approve this. In this proposal, I want to address the following concerns, and this is where I need your help.

1. Inamtes using these as negotiable items..how to prevent it.

2. How these items would be dispersed...one box per month per inmate...etc.

3. I thought about a form for an inmate to request these envelopes.... ?

4. I know this is all about money, so how could this be put to show the warden he wouldn't be loosing any and yet we can help these guys.

If I can get this done here at Polunsky, then I would like to take this format and then use it with other prisons. One step at a time.

Any suggestions or thoughts of what to put in this proposal is greatly appreciated and needed. Especially from those that have been in...you guys know the system and how these can be used as negotiable items and what could be done to prevent this.

I am researching and collecting information all this week and plan on sitting down on my next two nights off and write this proposal.

I will do this. It just going to take some ingenuity and persistence.

Thanks for all of your support
Joy