What Happens to Physical Mail at Blue Ridge Regional Jail – The Tablet Delivery System Explained
Personal mail at Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority (BRRJA) facilities doesn't work the way you might expect. Your letters and photos aren't handed directly to your loved one. Instead, BRRJA sends all mail to a contracted offsite facility for scanning. Once scanned, it's delivered electronically through the tablet system - meaning your loved one sees a digital copy, not the physical original.
Because of this setup, almost all physical mail that arrives at BRRJA gets returned to the sender. Legal mail and money orders are the main exceptions. Here's something that catches people off guard: if you put a money order inside a letter, the whole thing comes back to you. Money orders need to be mailed separately.
Tip: Expect your loved one to receive a scanned, electronic version of what you send - not the original paper. Since most physical mail gets returned, don't send one-of-a-kind originals unless you've confirmed they fit BRRJA's current rules.
Legal mail is the exception to the "no physical mail" rule. BRRJA copies it, then destroys the original with the inmate present to witness. The inmate receives the copy directly.
Everything else comes back to you. Legal mail and money orders are the only real exceptions - all other physical mail gets returned to sender.
Photos Keepsakes Limits
- ✓ Keep photos to 4×6 inches or smaller
- ✓ Don’t send more than they’re allowed to have: inmates may not receive or keep more than 10 pictures at a time
- ✓ Don’t send Polaroid photos or picture frames
- ✓ Don’t send nude or revealing pictures of any type
The scanning and tablet system changes what "sending photos" actually means. Your loved one receives a digital scan, not a physical print. Anything that doesn't meet policy gets rejected or returned. Keep it simple: standard printed photos, 4×6 or smaller. Skip Polaroids and frames entirely. Nothing nude or revealing. And watch the possession limit - if they already have 10 pictures, sending more creates problems even if the images themselves are allowed.
- Ask how long scanned mail takes to show up on the tablet - since delivery is electronic after offsite scanning, timing can matter.
- Ask whether you’ll get any kind of confirmation - find out how you’ll know something was received and scanned versus returned.
- Confirm what BRRJA counts as “legal mail” - legal mail is handled as a special exception, with copies provided and originals destroyed with the inmate witnessing.
- Verify the right way to send a money order - money orders are an exception, but letters containing money orders are returned to sender.
- Ask what happens when something is rejected - confirm how returned-to-sender mail is processed and what you should expect to see come back.
Note: Start with BRRJA's current inmate mail guidance, then confirm any exceptions directly with the facility. This is especially important if you're trying to send something beyond a basic letter or standard photo.
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