What Happens to Mail at Bexar County — Scanning, Addressing, and Prohibited Items
Bexar County uses a scan-and-kiosk system for jail mail. Follow the addressing format and skip prohibited items, and your letter and photos should reach your loved one without delays.
All incoming mail at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center is opened and inspected. Staff then scan it into a kiosk system - inmates view their mail digitally rather than receiving physical paper.
Scanned mail stays viewable on the kiosk for up to six months. The original paper? It's held for just two business days after scanning, then destroyed.
Addressing Mail
- ✓ Include the inmate’s full name
- ✓ Include the inmate’s SID number (required)
- ✓ Use the facility mailing address: Bexar County Adult Detention Center, 200 N. Comal Street, San Antonio, TX 78207
- ✓ Include the unit location if you know it
Photo Limits
- ✓ Send no more than 6 photos in a single envelope
- ✓ Keep photos at 5" x 7" or smaller
Warning: Photos with nudity (including partial nudity or sexually suggestive images) will be rejected, and any children in photos must be fully clothed. Images showing gang hand signs/gestures, weapons, drugs, or drug paraphernalia will also be rejected.
Other Prohibited
- ✓ Cash
- ✓ Money orders
- ✓ Cashier’s checks
- ✓ Credit cards
- ✓ Phone cards
- ✓ Driver’s licenses
- ✓ Photo IDs
- ✓ Original documents (for example: birth certificates, marriage certificates, social security cards, car titles)
- ✓ Hardback books
- ✓ Leather-bound books
- ✓ Spiral-bound books
- ✓ Adult magazines
- ✓ Paperback books that are not perfect-bound
- ✓ Any books/publications not sent directly from a publisher or an established bookstore
Not sure if something will get through? Keep it simple - paper letters and compliant photos are your safest bet. Cash, gift cards, identity documents, and publications that don't meet the paperback/perfect-bound and approved-sender rules commonly get rejected. Photos are scrutinized for content as much as size. Anything sexually suggestive, showing gang gestures, or depicting weapons or drugs will likely be turned away.
Inmates can buy stationery, envelopes, and postage stamps through the jail commissary. They can also purchase credits for kiosk messages and photos.
Kiosk pricing is straightforward: messages cost $0.25 each, photos $0.50 each. Messages are typically ready for review within 48 hours.
Certified mail is available through the mailroom, but the inmate covers the certified postage.
Questions about rejected mail or other mailroom issues? Contact the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Mailroom at 210-335-6240 or 210-335-6868, or email BCSOMailroom@bexar.org.
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