Missouri inmates’ personal mail must be sent to Florida for scanning, according to a news release from the Department of Corrections (DOC).
The DOC announced recently that personal postal mail must be mailed to a Digital Mail Center in Tampa, Fla, beginning July 1.
Once the mail is received, it will be digitally scanned and made available on the inmate’s media player. Those who don’t have a media player will have their digital mail printed and delivered to them, according to a news release.
The communications director for the DOC, Karen Pojmann, said the new system will hopefully cut down on contraband and help alleviate strain on staff. She said the DOC has been short-staffed for months, and there aren’t enough employees to sort the mail and search for contraband.
Any mail received between June 15 and July 1 will be forwarded to the Tampa mail center. Any personal mail received to correctional facilities after July 1 will be returned to the sender.
Legal mail, mail from other agencies, certified mail, publications and visitation applications can continue to be sent to correctional facilities, including the 1,600-bed South Central Correctional Center at Licking.
Mail must be properly addressed with a return name and address. All personal mail must be sent to the following:
Offender name and DOC ID number
C/O Digital Mail Center – Missouri DOC
P.O. Box 25678
Tampa, Fla. 33622-5678
This is crazy. So if you want to send a card for brithday you have to send it a month before the date.
Yes, due to the new devices they have gotten inside of the institution it makes it better for less contraband that the correctional officers have to worry about.
Actually that is incorrect. They are not allowed to receive any outside “hallmark” type cards. You have to use the cards they provide on the Securus website. Their reason when I asked was because cards cannot be scanned easily and they have a large selection.
How do we access the securus website?