What Happens If a Letter to Someone at Omaha Correctional Center Is Rejected or Returned

Personal letters to Omaha Correctional Center don't go straight to the prison mailroom. Since November 12, 2024, all incoming personal correspondence must be mailed to the contracted scanning vendor at Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131. Include the facility name plus the incarcerated person's name and number on the envelope. The vendor scans everything you send and bundles it into a single PDF for delivery. This "all-in-one" setup has a catch: if any part of your mailing violates NDCS or vendor policy, the entire PDF gets rejected. Nothing is delivered - even if most of it would have been fine.

Notification is where most people get confused. When the scanning vendor rejects your mail, you find out because it shows up back in your mailbox. Your loved one never knows something was stopped. But if the vendor processes it and NDCS flags a policy violation afterward? The opposite happens. The scanned item is withheld, your loved one receives a written notice from the mailroom, and you hear nothing.

One simple but common mistake: addressing your letter to the facility instead of the vendor. When personal correspondence arrives at the facility address, it gets returned to sender. The mailroom notice (Notice From The Mail Room, Attachment B) will indicate the reason.

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• ✓ Ink that isn’t black or blue - this can make the scan unreadable and can lead to rejection.
• ✓ Very light ink - if it won’t scan clearly, it may be rejected.
• ✓ Colored paper, watermarks, or background prints - these can interfere with scanning and can lead to rejection.
• ✓ Photos, postcards, or greeting cards with nudity/partial nudity (including infants/newborns) - any prohibited image can cause the entire scanned PDF to be rejected.
• ✓ Sexual gestures (even when clothed) - treated as prohibited content.
• ✓ Drug use or drug paraphernalia - treated as prohibited content.
• ✓ Images of incarcerated people - treated as prohibited content.
• ✓ Social media images (including text, filters, emojis, or borders) - treated as prohibited content.
• ✓ Hand signs (including peace signs or middle fingers) - treated as prohibited content; one noncompliant image can stop the whole PDF from being delivered.

1. Check why it came back - if your envelope includes a reason for return (often tied to a mailroom notice when it was sent to the facility by mistake), use that as your starting point.
2. Fix address problems first - personal correspondence needs to go to the scanning vendor, not the facility. Address it to Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131, and include the facility name plus the incarcerated person’s name and number.
3. Clean up the “scanability” basics - resend using black or blue ink, and avoid very light ink, colored paper, watermarks, or background-print stationery so the pages scan clearly.
4. Resend only what complies - remember that everything is combined into one PDF; if any part violates policy, the whole delivery can be rejected.

Not everything goes through the scanning vendor. Funds, publications, and packages are received at the facility directly. Address these using the incarcerated person's committed (or legally changed) name, institutional number, the facility name, and the facility post box number. If your loved one mentions they received a written mailroom notice about withheld mail, that means NDCS stopped it after vendor processing. Since the notice goes to them - not you - ask them to share what it says. Then contact the facility mailroom for clarification on what was rejected and what your options are.