How Mail, Photos, and Cards Are Delivered at Joliet Treatment Center (IDOC's Digital Mail System)

Joliet Treatment Center (IDOC) now scans or photocopies all incoming non-privileged mail. Your letter will still be accepted and processed, but the person you're writing to will receive a scanned copy - not the original paper you sent.

Types Scanned

• ✓ Written correspondence (letters)
• ✓ Greeting cards
• ✓ Drawings
• ✓ Photos

• ✓ Publications
• ✓ Photos sent directly from photo printing service companies (these are not scanned/photocopied)
• ✓ Official documents mailed from a government entity (for example, birth certificates or Social Security cards)
• ✓ Correspondence from IDOC staff sent to an individual in custody
• ✓ Any mail identified as “unauthorized mail” under IDOC incoming mail policies
• ✓ Any mail addressed to the facility that will be returned to the sender
• ✓ Original photographs mailed directly from a photo printing vendor (including a watermark/logo) are delivered to the recipient unless the photographs are otherwise unauthorized

Mailroom staff scan the front and back of the envelope plus everything inside - letters, greeting cards, photos - all in color. Those scans get saved as PDFs and uploaded to the recipient's Bulletin Board.

Once the PDFs are uploaded, your recipient gets a notification on their tablet that new mail is available. No tablet access? They'll receive paper photocopies instead.

If your loved one doesn't have tablet access, they'll still get your mail - just as paper photocopies made from the scans.

1. Fill out form DOC 028 - use the “Individual In Custody Request Form (DOC 028)” to request a specific piece of mail as a printed copy.
2. Write “Mail Print Request” and add the document number - include the handwritten document number found on the scanned document; the number begins with the individual’s IDOC number.

Sender Tips

• ✓ Keep mailing to the facility address where the person is housed.
• ✓ Put the individual’s IDOC number near their name on the envelope.
• ✓ Write the individual’s IDOC number on each page, photo, or item you include so it processes faster.

There’s no cost to you or your loved one for the electronic mail scanning process.

After non-privileged mail is scanned, the original can't be returned. Sending something irreplaceable - like a child's drawing or a special card? Mail a copy and keep the original at home.

Photos from printing vendors can be a gray area. If the vendor mails photos directly to the person in custody (even with a watermark or logo), those original photos will be delivered - unless they're flagged as unauthorized for another reason.

Wondering if you can send a lot in one envelope? IDOC says there's no limit on the number of photos or pages you can include.