Sending Mail to Inmates in Maine
An important part of the rehabilitation process is for inmate's to keep their personal friendships and relationships healthy through communication. All inmates are allowed to send and receive mail from anyone, with the exception of correspondence between an inmate and another inmate, an inmate and their victim, a person who is prohibited contact by court order, and an inmate and a minor if the parent or guardian of that minor has sent a written request to the Chief Administrative Officer requesting the inmate not be allowed contact with the inmate. If an inmate does not have any money in their commissary account for postage they will be allowed to send two free letters per week.
All mail may be opened, inspected and read, with the exception of legal mail which can be inspected in the presence of the inmate. Any mail that appears to be written in code or an untranslatable language will be treated as contraband and handed over to the Correctional Investigator. At no time should you directly mail any items to an inmate, only letters, cards and photos may come directly from you.
When sending a photo to an inmate it can be no larger than 4"x6" and should be limited to no more than 5 in number. The photos must not be Polaroid as these present a security risk. In addition, photos may not contain nudity or depict illegal activities.
When sending cards to an inmate they may be no larger than 8"x10" and cannot be multi layered, padded, laminated, or contain electronics/music of any kind.
You can also send newspaper/magazine clippings but they must be a full length page, cannot be altered, and must display the original name of the newspaper or magazine, you may not write or type the name of the magazine.
Use the following format when addressing the envelope to your inmate:
Inmate Name, MDOC Number
Facility Name
PO Box or Street address
City, State, Zip code
How to Send Books and Magazines to Inmates in Maine
Inmates can receive books, magazines, and newspapers, but they must be ordered through an approved book distributor. The largest approved distributor is Amazon.com. The books must be paperback and must come new from Amazon, third party sellers are not allowed. You can also pay for a subscription to a newspaper or magazine and have it sent directly to the inmate. All publications must adhere to certain content restrictions. Publications may not contain nudity, describe the use or manufacture of drugs/alcohol, firearms, explosives or other weapons. In addition, publications may not contain maps, promote hate or violence, or contain any other information that could jeopardize the safety and security of the institution. To learn more about sending these items to an inmate read this.
Sending Money to Inmates in Maine
Offenders can receive funds from friends and family members for deposit into their inmate commissary account, and their telephone account. The Maine Department of Corrections has made it simple and easy to deposit funds online via their website. Inmates can use these funds to purchase a wide array of items from the commissary. The commissary is a store within the institution which sells food, snacks, hygiene items, stationary and postage, electronics, games, and many other items.
In order to deposit funds you will need to know the inmates MDOC number and the inmate's date of birth. You can use any debit or credit card that has the Visa or MasterCard logo on it. You will start by registering your name and e-mail address through the Maine Department of Corrections website here.
Phone Calls to Maine Inmates
Inmates are allowed to make outgoing collect calls and prepaid calls only. Using the service made available through the Maine Department of Corrections website you can deposit funds to an inmate's prepaid telephone account. Call forwarding, three way/conference calling is prohibited and will result in your phone call being dropped.
In no instance will you be allowed to make an incoming call to the inmate. Do not ask the staff to relay any messages. In the event of an emergency involving an immediate family member of a prisoner you will need to tell the staff and they will need to be able to verify it by contacting law enforcement, hospital, or funeral home before they notify the inmate. If the emergency event is verifiable the inmate will be notified and may be allowed to make a special phone call.
All phone calls, with the exception of legal calls, may be recorded and monitored.
You may be able to drastically reduce your inmate phone bill by setting up your account with a number local to the facility. Learn more about how you can save money on your inmate phone calls.