What You Can and Can't Send in Photos: Ouachita Correctional Center's Picture Rules
If you’re mailing photos to someone at Ouachita Correctional Center, keep the size simple: portrait pictures are allowed as long as they’re no larger than 5×7 inches. Anything bigger is more likely to be rejected during screening.
Size isn't the only thing screened - content matters too. The rules specifically mention 35mm pictures, but the same restrictions apply to any photo format. Pictures showing alcohol, drugs, undergarments or lingerie, nudity, obscene or vulgar content, suggestive gestures, gang or hand signs, weapons, or anything threatening facility safety can be rejected.
Polaroid warning: Instant Polaroids are returned in whole, and they’ll also be returned if you crop them or remove the bottom/backing. Don’t trim, cut, or “clean up” a Polaroid before you send it.
Ouachita Correctional Center does not accept pornographic material, and it won’t process magazines, books, or pictures that show people in a sexually provocative way. In their rules, “sexually provocative” includes poses in swimsuits or lingerie, or images that expose genitals, nipples, buttocks, and similar content. Beyond sexual content, photos (and even hand drawings) can be rejected if they show alcoholic beverages or drugs, undergarments/lingerie, nudity, obscenity or vulgarities, suggestive gestures, gang and/or hand signs, weapons, or anything that could create a threat to the safety, security, or discipline of the prison. If you’re on the fence about whether an image crosses a line, pick a more neutral photo - those are the ones that usually make it through.
- ✓ Swimsuit or lingerie poses
- ✓ Any exposure of genitals, nipples, or buttocks
- ✓ Alcoholic beverages
- ✓ Drugs
- ✓ Undergarments or lingerie
- ✓ Nudity
- ✓ Obscenity or vulgarities
- ✓ Suggestive gestures
- ✓ Gang and/or hand signs
- ✓ Weapons
- ✓ Anything that could threaten the safety, security, or discipline of the prison
- Stick to 5×7 or smaller - send portrait photos that are no larger than 5×7 inches.
- Leave Polaroids unaltered - don’t crop them or remove the bottom/backing; send the instant photo whole.
- Pre-screen for rejection triggers - avoid anything showing alcohol, drugs, nudity, undergarments/lingerie, obscene/vulgar content, suggestive gestures, gang/hand signs, weapons, or anything that could be viewed as a safety/security/discipline threat.
- Keep a copy for yourself - save the originals (or a digital backup) before you mail anything, just in case a photo gets returned or rejected.
Quick reminder: Don’t send pornographic material, and don’t alter instant Polaroids (cropping or removing the backing). Those are clear reasons for rejection/return at Ouachita Correctional Center.
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