ByHow To Send a Care Package to an Inmate—Surprise Your Loved Ones
You have a friend or a family member in prison—you’ve found yourself in a difficult situation. You don’t know how to address a letter to an inmate or what items are you allowed to send them? DoNotPay will help you learn how to send support to your loved ones in prison through a care package!
Some ex-convicts claim that staying in touch with the outside world not only helped them endure their sentence more easily but also made them reconsider their previous actions. Research also showed that prisoners are more likely to stop doing illegal deeds if they have someone on the outside who supports them.
Inmate calling and package delivery to prison are complicated, and the best form of communication, for the time being, is via mail. We can help you write and properly address letters to your incarcerated loved one in a trouble-free way!
Can You Send Care Packages to Prisoners?
Sending inmate packages is somewhat complicated because there are strict rules and regulations on what prisoners are allowed to have while they’re serving a sentence. The best course of action is to check with the specific facility your loved one’s in what you’re allowed to send them and how often they can receive a package. A general rule, in most prisons, is that prisoners are allowed one package a quarter.
You can’t design your package and ship it via mail by yourself. The package has to be sent through a third party. Prisons usually have contracts with package providers, so you can call the facility and find out which providers are approved by the specific prison.
How To Send a Package to an Inmate
Luckily, there are third-party websites that enable you to send an inmate care package through them. Before you choose your service, check with the correctional facility if they allow shipments via that specific provider.
There are also print catalogs that you can order from, and you can place your order via phone and email. The quickest way, though, is through an online shop.
The vendors you can use to send your package to an inmate are:
- iCaregifts—With iCaregifts, you can send snacks and food to your loved one. They offer packages that can be styled for a birthday, holiday, or a special event
- Access Securepak—They offer packages that can include food, snacks, personal hygiene products, electronic devices, and apparel
- Union Supply Direct—With this company, you’ll get same-day shipping for all products except music. They take online, mail, fax, and phone orders
- Inmate Care Packages—This company offers packages that contain food, coffee, stationery, hygiene products, etc.
What Can You Send to Prisoners?
The items you can send to inmates depend on the rules of the correctional facility your loved one is at. Most of the package providers are prison and jail approved, but you should check with the prison which companies are on their approved list.
There are some general rules about what you can and can’t send to inmates:
| Allowed Items | Items That Some Prisons Allow and Some Don’t | Forbidden Items |
|
|
|
Check Out DoNotPay’s Helpful Feature!
Having a loved one behind bars isn’t easy. It doesn’t help either that the authorities often forget that inmates are human beings too. With this in mind, DoNotPay created a feature for people who need to stay in touch with their incarcerated loved ones.
Open DoNotPay in any and access our Connect With an Inmate feature. This feature will enable you to:
- Locate your loved one in prison
- Send a personalized letter with minimal effort
- Receive a response from the inmate to the Virtual Mailbox
Whether you’re interested in writing letters to inmates, visiting them, or sending them books and pictures, DoNotPay can help!
Locate Your Incarcerated Loved One With Our Robust App
How to contact an inmate if you don’t know where they are? We can help you find them, and you don’t even have to provide the inmate ID or prison unit. All you need to know is your loved one’s full name and the state where the prison is located.
To find an inmate, do the following:
- Open the Connect With an Inmate feature
- Select Locate Someone
- Enter the inmate’s full name
- Type in the state where the correctional facility is located
DoNotPay will find the prisoner’s current location and inform you immediately.
Send a Personalized Letter in Under Five Minutes With DoNotPay
To write a prisoner, you need to go through a lot of trouble when you’re doing it by yourself. You need to be careful not to misspell any letter or write the wrong number on the envelope. After ensuring that the envelope is the right size and color and is addressed properly, you have to wait in line at the post office for way too long.
DoNotPay enables you to avoid all this hassle and never leave your home. Our app will help you fill out the required information and send your letter electronically. The prison officials will print the letter and deliver it to your loved one. The following steps are all you need to do:
- Click on Connect With an Inmate
- Choose the Send a Personalized Letter option
- Type in all the required information—the inmate’s full name, prisoner ID, and the correctional facility’s address
- Write your letter
- Pick one of the letter styles—birthday, Christmas, etc.
- Hit Enter
Once you’re done, DoNotPay will ask you if you want to receive an answer through our app. If you choose to do so, you’ll set up a Virtual Mailbox.
Get a Letter From an Inmate Through Our Virtual Mailbox
We know how hard it is to keep in touch with incarcerated friends, family members, or even pen pals. That’s why we’ve developed the Virtual Mailbox. This is the easiest way for the inmate to send you letters.
Once the prisoner writes their letter to you, it will be digitized and sent to your Virtual Mailbox. This way, the letter can’t get lost in the mail, and you get to keep it forever.
You can opt for this option by accessing the Connect With an Inmate feature.
Break Free From Everyday Administrative Issues With the Help of DoNotPay
DoNotPay can help you contact prison pen pals all across the United States—we are not tied to a specific location. You can send personalized letters through our app to your pen pals in Ohio, Texas, Florida, California, and other states.
This isn’t all DoNotPay can do, though. We offer assistance with a variety of other and administrative issues. After you create a DoNotPay account in your , we’ll help you with:
- Keeping in touch with your incarcerated loved ones
- Getting refunds and compensation for delayed or canceled flights
- Blocking spam SMS for good
- Disputing traffic citations
- Using burner phones
- Pushing the deadline for bills you are unable to pay
- Getting refunds and chargebacks from various companies
- Keeping yourself and your loved ones safe from stalking and harassment
- Contesting parking tickets
- Dealing with credit card issues
- Getting back at robocalls
- Filing a claim for any warranty
- Jumping the phone queue when getting in touch with customer service reps
- Fighting speeding citations
- Canceling memberships and subscriptions for good
- Dealing with missing money issues
- Waiving college application fees
- Scheduling a DMV appointment fast and easy
- Signing up for free trials without the risk of unwanted charges
- Keeping your work safe from copyright infringement
- Blocking spam emails forever
- Suing companies and people in small claims court
- Finding clinical trials in no time