What Happens to Your Letter After You Mail It to Community Corrections Center - Lincoln
Mail to Community Corrections Center - Lincoln gets scanned before reaching your loved one. Here's what happens after you drop it in the mailbox, how approval works, and what might slow things down.
Personal letters to Community Corrections Center - Lincoln don't go directly to the facility. Since November 12, 2024, NDCS uses a contracted scanning vendor to process all incoming personal correspondence. Your envelope needs to follow a specific format: the facility name, "State of Nebraska Department of Correctional Services," your loved one's committed (or legally changed) name and institutional number, then "Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131." Get any of those details wrong, and your letter may not make it through.
Once the vendor receives your letter, they scan the contents for electronic delivery. Instead of the original paper being handed directly to your loved one, what gets sent forward is a digital version created from the scanned pages.
The vendor scans everything in your correspondence into a single PDF and sends that file to the tablet system. This "all-or-nothing" format has real consequences: if any page or item violates NDCS policy or the vendor's policy, the entire PDF gets rejected. There's no partial delivery where the acceptable pages still go through. One problem stops the whole packet.
Note: If the vendor decides your personal correspondence doesn’t comply with policy, it’s returned to you as the sender - and the vendor does not notify the incarcerated recipient that it was returned.
Once approved, your letter normally reaches your loved one's tablet within 24 hours. The clock starts at approval - not the day you mailed it.
If your loved one doesn't have an assigned tablet, staff photocopy the approved scan and deliver a paper version instead. Even then, delivery normally happens within 24 hours of approval.
When your loved one sends mail out, it normally leaves the facility within 24 hours of being deposited - excluding weekends and holidays. Outgoing packages typically leave within 48 hours.
Two things commonly disrupt the normal flow: compliance issues and contraband concerns. Since everything gets bundled into one PDF, any policy violation can sink the entire letter - not just the problematic page. If the vendor suspects illegal or suspicious drugs, they notify local police to take possession and alert NDCS. Non-compliant correspondence gets returned to you, and the vendor won't tell the intended recipient it was sent back.
- ✓ If any part of the scanned correspondence violates NDCS or the vendor’s policy, the entire PDF is rejected.
- ✓ If the scanning vendor determines the correspondence contains illegal or suspicious drugs, the vendor notifies local police to take possession of the substance and notifies NDCS.
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