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1. An inmate is permitted to correspond with the public, his/her attorney, and public officials. 2. There is no limit to the amount of mail an inmate can send or receive. 3. Any mail that does not pass the metal detector will automatically be returned to the sender unopened. The inmate will not receive a notice. 4. An inmate may not: a. Correspond with another inmate, co-defendant, witness or victim(s) of the inmate’s criminal acts or his/her immediate family without prior written approval of the Warden/designee. b. Correspond with a current or former employee, current or former volunteer, current or former contract employee; c. Send or receive correspondence containing threatening or obscene materials, as well as correspondence containing criminal solicitations or furthering a criminal plan or misconduct offense; d. Write to an individual who has informed the Prison, in writing, that he/she does not wish to receive correspondence from the inmate; e. Correspond with any prohibited party directed through a third party; f. Send or receive battery-operated greeting cards; g. Send or receive “bill-me-later” or free gift transactions: h. Receive correspondence containing homemade artwork. Mail cannot have any item affixed to it with glue or other types of adhesives, including tape (excluding a mailing label that is affixed to the envelope). An unaltered, commercially manufactured greeting card, other than a battery operated greeting card, will be permitted. i. Receive Polaroid photographs or photographs containing nudity, which for the purpose of this is defined as showing any male or female genitals and/or pubic area and/or female breast area. · Exposure of any of the above areas through “see through” materials is considered nudity for purposes of this definition. 5. The prison will not accept stamps, personal checks, and cash sent through the mail. Money orders will be accepted and must have the inmate’s full name and ID number. It may take up to 24hours for it to be processed into the inmate’s account. 6. When an inmate wishes to correspond with another inmate in the prison, they must submit a request to their counselor. The request slip must include the name of the other inmate, the relationship between them, and the reason why they need to correspond. 7. All inmates who have no funds in their accounts will be permitted to mail out three (3) free letters per week. 8. There will be no limit on the number of letters that an inmate may send at his/her own expense. Envelopes and stamps are available for purchase through Commissary. 9. Inmates may not receive more than five (5) (5”x7”) photographs in one correspondence. If more than five (5) photographs are mailed to them, the entire piece of mail will be returned to sender with a notice that it is being returned because of non-permitted contents. They are only permitted to have five (5) photographs in their possession. If they have more than five (5) photographs in their possession, the excess photos will be placed in their property. 10. Incoming and outgoing correspondence, other than legal correspondence, will be opened and inspected for contraband. Mail is not read unless warranted. 11. Incoming correspondence containing contraband shall be confiscated and held for further inspection and disposition. The contraband shall be returned to the sender (if known), turned over to law enforcement if warranted or it shall be destroyed. 12. Outgoing correspondence should not have obscene material or contraband written on, drawn on, or contained in the mail. Such mail will be opened, returned to the sender, or disposed of at the inmate’s expense. 13. Incoming and outgoing correspondence must have the inmate’s approved name printed in a legible, undisguised manner. 14. All incoming mail shall be delivered to the inmate within 24hrs to 48hrs, unless the mail contains content requiring a review. 15. Inmates are not permitted to receive packages through the mail. 16. The prison doesn’t hold mail for inmates that are not currently housed at YCP. All such mail is automatically returned to the sender.
Legal Correspondence Legal Mail Definition: Legal Mail is mail that is addressed to or from an attorney, a judge who serves in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any of the 50 states, any judge who serves on the Federal Bench or any administrative agency including all Appellate Court judges, the Attorney General of the United States, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, the District Attorney of any county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or any Court from any jurisdiction in the United States provided that the correspondence will be treated as legal mail if the title and office of the sender for incoming correspondence or addressee or outgoing correspondence are unambiguously identified on the envelope clearly indicating that the correspondence is legal mail as defined herein. These correspondences will be opened for the first time in the presence of the inmate and inspected for contraband, but not read.
Incoming publications 1. All books, magazines, and newspapers must be mailed from the original source (publisher). Books will not be accepted from local bookstores (such as Walden Books, Borders, Daltons, etc.). Inmates are permitted to receive books from Internet companies (such as AMAZON.COM). 2. The books, magazines, and newspaper subscriptions must be paid in advance. 3. No catalogs will be permitted and will be destroyed. 4. Inmates are not to have any more than five (5) books in their possession at any time. 5. The following publications or photographs may be rejected by the Warden/designee if: a. It depicts or describes procedures for the construction or use of weapons, ammunition, bombs or incendiary devices. b. It depicts, encourages or describes methods of escape from correctional facilities or contains blue prints, drawings or similar descriptions of any jail or prison. c. It depicts or describes procedures for brewing of alcoholic beverages or manufacture of drugs. d. It is written in code. e. It depicts, describes or encourages activities, which may lead to the use of physical violence or group disruption. f. It encourages or instructs in the commission of criminal activity. g. It advocates violence of any kind or literature that promotes hatred towards any group. h. It is sexually explicit material, which by its nature or content poses a threat to the security, good order or discipline of the institution or facilitates a criminal activity. |
