Sending Mail to Someone at Central New Mexico Correctional Facility
Regular letters and non-legal correspondence to someone at Central New Mexico Correctional Facility (CNMCF) go to a centralized mailing address - not directly to the prison. Send it to the facility itself and it'll be returned, adding unnecessary delay.
Legal mail works differently. At CNMCF, incoming legal mail is scanned while the inmate is present - this allows staff to check for contraband while keeping the process connected to the intended recipient.
Once scanned, the legal mail is encrypted and sent to the inmate's tablet. They receive the contents digitally rather than getting the original paper documents.
- ✓ Have the original legal-mail documents shredded.
- ✓ Have the originals returned to the sender (at the inmate’s expense).
- ✓ Request a paper copy of the legal mail (made at no cost).
Note: Legal mail is scanned in the inmate’s presence and then delivered encrypted to the inmate’s tablet.
Letters move reasonably fast at CNMCF. Incoming and outgoing mail is held for no more than 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.
Packages take a bit longer. When allowed, they're held for no more than 72 hours (excluding weekends and holidays). Emergency situations can extend that window.
Trying to help one incarcerated person write to another? CNMCF limits inmate-to-inmate correspondence to immediate family members only. If they're not immediate family, the mail won't be allowed.
Even between immediate family, this correspondence isn't automatic. Both the sending facility warden and the receiving facility warden must give documented approval.
Once approved, the paperwork stays on file. Mailroom staff maintain an approved inmate-to-inmate correspondence list to track who can write to whom.
Practical Tips Before You Mail
- ✓ Use the designated centralized mailing address for non-legal mail so it doesn’t get returned.
- ✓ If you’re sending legal mail, clearly mark it as legal mail so it’s handled through the scan-in-presence, encrypted-to-tablet process.
- ✓ Build in extra time around weekends and holidays, since the 48-hour letter window excludes those days.
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