Email vs. Regular Mail: How to Stay in Touch with Someone at Iowa State Penitentiary
Trying to stay in touch with someone at Iowa State Penitentiary? You'll typically choose between O-mail (through CorrLinks) and regular mail processed through Iowa DOC's central mail service. The key difference: your loved one either gets an electronic message or a printed copy of your scanned letter.
O-mail and regular mail work completely differently for Iowa DOC. With O-mail, your message goes through CorrLinks and arrives electronically. Regular mail takes a different route: you still write and mail a physical letter, but it doesn't go straight to Iowa State Penitentiary. Instead, Pigeonly opens your mail, scans it into a digital color copy, and printed copies get delivered to the right Iowa DOC facility.
Heads up: If you mail a handwritten letter, card, or other non-legal item, you won't get the original back. Iowa DOC policy requires temporary storage followed by secure destruction.
Want the email-style option? Iowa DOC uses O-mail through CorrLinks. Register at corrlinks.com, and once your account is set up, you can start sending messages. Each O-mail costs $0.25 - a solid choice if you want to check in frequently without paying postage every time.
O-mail isn't unlimited like regular email. Messages max out at 13,000 characters or 100 lines - whichever comes first. Iowa DOC notes that 100 lines equals about two pages, so if you write long updates, you may need to split your message across multiple O-mails.
For regular, non-legal mail, send it to Iowa DOC's central processing address (run by Pigeonly) - not directly to Iowa State Penitentiary. The address: Iowa State Penitentiary - 1110, PO Box 96777, Las Vegas, NV 89193. Mail sent directly to an Iowa DOC facility gets returned to you.
Once your letter reaches the processing center, Pigeonly opens and scans it into a digital color copy. That copy gets printed and delivered to your loved one at the appropriate Iowa DOC facility. Your original paper doesn't get forwarded - it's temporarily stored, then securely destroyed per Iowa DOC policy.
Which to Choose
- ✓ Choose O-mail (CorrLinks) if you want a quick, email-style note and you’re okay with the per-message cost ($0.25 each).
- ✓ Choose O-mail if you can keep your message under 13,000 characters or 100 lines (about two pages max). If you write longer letters, plan on splitting them.
- ✓ Choose regular mail (processed through Pigeonly) if you prefer writing on paper or sending a traditional letter, but understand your loved one will receive a printed copy of a scan, not the original.
- ✓ Avoid sending anything you need back (like originals you want to keep), because non-legal mail originals aren’t returned once they’re processed.
Reminder: Non-legal items you mail won't be returned - originals are destroyed after temporary storage. If keeping the original matters to you, don't send it.
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