How to send messages, photos, and packages
Bellefonte handles remote communication through an IVS and Zoom workflow for video visits. You can join by logging into your IVS visitor account, clicking the emailed Video Call URL, or opening Zoom and entering the meeting ID and password provided. Plan ahead: visits must be scheduled at least three days in advance, and you can't book more than 60 days out. Getting started typically means creating a visitor account with the approved vendor, completing identity verification, requesting facility approval, and purchasing any required vendor credits before your session. For tablets, the incarcerated person orders through the DOC commissary. If you'd like to help, you can send money so they can purchase one. JPay is the referenced vendor for sending funds. The department also lists a DOC Central Office contact for visitation and scheduling questions.
Search for a loved one and send messages and photos in minutes.
If your loved one is in the Pennsylvania DOC system, the right address depends on what you're mailing. Regular letters and photos go to Smart Communications for scanning. Publications and photo books route through the Bellefonte Security Processing Center (SPC).
Mail to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) inmates follows two separate paths: regular letters and photos go through Smart Communications for scanning, while legal mail has its own set of rules. Here's how to address each type so your correspondence arrives without delays.
Join by logging into your IVS visitor account and using the Video Call URL, opening the vendor’s emailed link, or joining in the Zoom app with the meeting ID and password you’re given.
Schedule at least three days in advance. You also can't book more than 60 days out.
Not directly. Tablets are ordered by the incarcerated person through the DOC commissary, but you can send money so they can purchase one, and JPay is the referenced vendor for sending funds.
Thinking about recording a PA DOC video visit or grabbing a quick screenshot? Pause first. The DOC has clear rules about what they record, and what you're not allowed to record or share.
Trying to help your loved one get a tablet in a Pennsylvania state prison? Here's the key thing to know: they have to buy it themselves through commissary. Your role is usually funding their account.
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