How to send messages, photos, and packages
Communication with someone at ASPC‑Y Dakota II starts with approval. Even if you only want to receive phone calls—no visits—you must complete the Application to Visit electronically. ADCRR runs criminal background checks on all applicants. One important note: don't submit your application while the inmate is in intake at Alhambra or Perryville. If you need to pay a visitation background fee, you can do it electronically through Keefe, JPay, or GTL using storefront/walk-up, phone, mobile app, or their websites. For phone, video, and messaging services, Arizona facilities typically use third-party vendor platforms. Create an account, add funds or credits, then schedule visits or send messages through that system.
Search for a loved one and send messages and photos in minutes.
Dakota Unit's digital mail system scans a specific list of items: letters, greeting cards, kid artwork and drawings, and photos. That's it. If you're considering sending something outside that list, don't—it won't be scanned. When in doubt, stick to written correspondence.
Writing to someone at ASPC‑Y Dakota? Here's the key thing: after ADCRR's December 2025 changes, personal mail and packages go to two completely different centralized addresses.
Once your letter is scanned, the original gets stored for 90 days by ADCRR's contracted provider—then it's professionally destroyed. Want the original back? Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with your correspondence, and they'll mail it to you after scanning. The digital mail policy itself doesn't cost you or the incarcerated person anything extra.
Starting December 15, 2025, ADCRR is shifting most incoming personal mail to a digital platform. Letters and similar personal mail will be routed for scanning and delivered digitally. A few categories stay outside the digital process: legal mail, parcels, publications, and official government mail.
Need to schedule a visit, sort out a mail issue, or just find someone who can actually help? Here are the most direct contact points for the Dakota Unit at ASPC‑Yuma.
Submit the Application to Visit electronically—this applies even if you only want to receive phone calls, not visit in person. ADCRR runs a criminal background check during the process. For phone, video, or messaging, you'll use a vendor platform to create an account, verify your details, and add funds or credits as needed.
You can pay the visitation background fee electronically through Keefe, JPay, or GTL. Payment options typically include storefront/walk-up, phone, mobile app, or the vendor website.
No—ADCRR advises not to submit a visitation or phone-call application while the inmate is in intake at Alhambra or Perryville. Check the relevant facility guidance for the right timing before you apply.
After Dec 15, 2025, send letters, greeting cards, drawings, and photos to the Digital Processing Center at PO Box 211309, Dallas, TX 75211. Include the inmate’s full name, ADCRR number, prison complex, and assigned unit or it may be returned. There’s a Dec 15–Jan 15 grace period for misaddressed items during the transition.
Written correspondence, greeting cards, drawings, and photographs are scanned and delivered digitally to the inmate’s secure tablet or kiosk. Legal mail, packages, publications, and official government mail (including checks) are excluded from the digital mail program.
Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your original item if you want it returned after scanning. Without a return request, the contractor keeps originals for 90 days before disposing of them.
Applying to visit someone at ASPC‑Y Dakota? Budget for a one-time, non-refundable $25 background check fee per adult visitor. This fee applies to both in-person visits and phone privileges. One exception: if you only want to receive phone calls from an inmate (not initiate them), you can skip the $25 fee. You'll still need to complete the phone privileges application, though.
Timing matters if your loved one just entered the system or was recently transferred. ADCRR won't process visitation applications while an inmate is going through intake at Alhambra or Perryville. Before you submit anything, confirm where they're currently housed—especially if their status is still in flux.
Getting approved at ASPC‑Y Dakota Unit starts with one step: submit the Application to Visit an Inmate electronically. Most delays come from missing fields, missing documents, or missing payment.
