How Long Until Your Letter Appears on Their Tablet — and What If They Don't Have One
When your loved one receives mail electronically, the waiting game can be frustrating—especially when you're not sure what "approval" actually means. Here's how NDCS scanned mail delivery works, and what happens if the person you're writing to doesn't have a tablet.
NDCS personal correspondence gets scanned in full color by a contracted vendor, then delivered through the tablet system. Once approved, letters typically appear on the incarcerated person's tablet within about 24 hours. The real variable? How long it takes your letter to reach the scanning facility and clear approval.
Timing baseline: After your letter is approved, delivery to the tablet will normally occur within 24 hours.
"Approval" is the checkpoint your letter must pass before delivery. The vendor scans everything into a single PDF - and if any part of that PDF violates NDCS or vendor policy, the entire PDF gets rejected. One problem item can stop your whole letter from going through.
This process starts before your envelope ever reaches the facility. Since November 12, 2024, NDCS requires all incoming personal correspondence to be mailed to a central Phoenix, Maryland address for scanning by a contracted vendor. Everything you send gets bundled into a single PDF for transmission to the tablet system - which is why the entire package matters, not just one page.
- ✓ Any policy issue in the scanned PDF can cause the entire PDF to be rejected, which stops delivery
- ✓ If illegal or suspicious drugs are found with personal correspondence, the scanning vendor must notify local police and NDCS
No tablet? Your letter isn't lost. When scanned correspondence is approved, facility staff will photocopy the approved scan and deliver that paper copy to the individual instead.
No tablet doesn't mean no delivery: Staff will deliver a photocopy of the approved scanned correspondence - typically within 24 hours of approval.
Sender Tips
- ✓ Keep your letter simple and easy to scan, since it will be delivered as a full-color scan
- ✓ Remember everything you include is combined into a single PDF, so treat the whole mailing as one “document”
- ✓ Make sure the envelope is addressed for NDCS’s central scanning process (not directly to the facility)
- ✓ Don’t include anything that could violate NDCS policy or the vendor’s policy, since any one issue can cause the entire PDF to be rejected
- ✓ Never include illegal or suspicious drugs with personal correspondence; the scanning vendor must notify local police and NDCS if that happens
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