Sending Mail to Colorado Inmates
Colorado inmates can receive letters from anyone, as long as the return address is legible and the letter does not contain any maps, plans to escape or commit a crime. All mail including letters will be opened, inspected and read (excluding privileged mail, such as legal mail, which can still be opened and inspected in the presence of the inmate). The letters should not contain staples, paper clips, or any embellishments such as glitter, glue, stickers, marker, lipstick etc. Inmates who have less than $4.60 in their trust account, and who are not receiving deposits or work pay for 30 days will be considered indigent. Those who qualify as indigent will be given by the facility one stamp, paper and envelope per week to mail.
Inmates may now also receive electronic letters through JPAY. It works similar to an e-mail, but the offender does not have access to a computer or device to respond back electronically, they must respond by snail mail. The messages are sent to the mail room and then printed and forwarded to the inmate.
Inmates may also receive photos no larger than 4"x6". The images should not contain nudity or anything sexually suggestive. Photos should also not be Polaroid, and may not be of tattoos, gang symbols, hand gestures etc. To help out the mail room staff it is good practice to pen the inmates name and ID number on the back of the image. Send no more than 5 photos at a time as this is the maximum amount of photos an inmate is allowed to have in their possession at any given time.
When addressing any mail to an inmate you should format it in the following manner:
Inmate Name, ID Number
Housing information (if known)
PO Box or Street address
City, State, zip code
Inmates can also receive books, magazines, and newspapers, you can read more about this in the section below.
Colorado inmates are also allowed to receive quarterly and holiday packages that can contain food, hygiene, and electronic items from an approved third party vendors such as Union Supply Direct, or Access Securpak. Inmates must meet certain requirements to be eligible to receive these packages. For more information on sending quarterly and holiday packages read this.
Send Books and Magazines to Colorado Inmates
Inmates in Colorado can receive new paperback books, magazines and newspapers from approved publishers such as Amazon.com. An inmate is allowed to have up to 2 books/magazines in his or her possession at any given time. The content within the books, magazines, newspapers must not contain maps, or have hate speech in them. They also cannot contain any nudity or depictions of violence. Ultimately it will be up to the staff of the facility to decide what is inappropriate. Certain procedures must be followed when sending books and magazines, you can read more about it here.
Sending Money to Inmates in Colorado
Inmates in Colorado can receive funds from friends and family members in three ways. The first is through a walk in, where the depositor will utilize a kiosk that is available in the lobby of select facilities, or will walk in to a store like Walmart and send the money through the MoneyGram center. The second way of someone making a deposit is over the telephone. And the last way, is over the internet.
To deposit funds using any of the below methods you will need to know the following:
- The Inmates Name
- The Inmates Identification Number
- The current location of the inmate
Deposit by Walk In
To deposit money through walk in, you can visit a facility that has a kiosk or go to any Walmart that has a MoneyGram, this method lets you use cash or debit card. MoneyGram will require you use the receiving code 6556. There is a fee charged when sending funds through this method.
Deposit by Internet
You can deposit money online with a debit or credit card through JPAY. You can also deposit the money online through Western Union. For Western Union you will need the following information:
- Pay to: Colorado Dept. Corrections
- City Code: CODOC
- State: CO
- Sender's Account: Offender ID number and Last name (example: 123456789Smith)
Deposit Funds Over the Phone
You may also deposit funds over the phone using a debit or credit card by calling 1-800-574-5729.
A percentage of the funds you send, usually no more than 20%, may be allocated to outstanding debts the inmate may owe such as fines, restitution and child support. Inmates can use the money you send them to buy an array of items from the prisons commissary. Read our guide on sending funds to an inmate for more information.
Colorado Inmate Phone Calls
Inmates incarcerated in Colorado can make outgoing calls only. Under no circumstances will staff take a message or forward a telephone message to an inmate. All inmate phone calls in Colorado are required to go through Offender Connect. You must setup an account to receive these calls from your inmate.
You can setup a telephone account by calling 1-800-913-6097 or you can do it online at offenderconnect.com. All calls are subject to surcharges and per minute rates. There are different rates depending on if the call is local, long distance, or international. The lowest rates seem to be the 'debit inmate phone rates' which have a connection surcharge and a low .10 per minute rate.
You can learn more about talking to your inmate over the phone by reading our inmate phone guide.
The rates will vary for local and long distance/out of state calls. The local number call rates are usually much lower so you may be able to save tons of money on your inmate phone calls by establishing a number local to the facility. Learn more about how you can save money on your inmate phone calls here.