Understanding Illinois Prison Mail: Why Your Letters Are Now Scanned

Here's how it works: mailroom staff scan the front and back of the envelope, plus each item inside, in color. Those scans become PDF images and get uploaded to the person's Bulletin Board - a section of their tablet where they can view and download them.

Once the PDFs are uploaded, the person in custody doesn’t have to guess whether something arrived. They receive a notification on their tablet that new scanned documents are available, and they can download and view them from there.

What Gets Scanned How Received

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

For mail that qualifies for scanning, "delivery" means digital delivery. The envelope and contents get scanned, converted to PDFs, and uploaded to the Bulletin Board. Your loved one receives a tablet notification when the upload is complete, then downloads and reads your letter on screen.

Exclusions

• ✓ Publications
• ✓ Photos sent directly from photo printing service companies
• ✓ Official documents mailed from a government entity (including items like birth certificates and Social Security cards)

Photos cause the most confusion because there's an important exception. Photos sent directly from photo printing services won't be scanned or photocopied. Instead, original photographs mailed directly from a vendor - with the vendor's watermark or logo - get delivered in their original form, as long as they're not otherwise unauthorized. This means vendor-printed photos can be a way for your loved one to receive physical originals, provided they meet IDOC's authorization rules.

1. Send copies when you can - Because non-privileged mail is scanned into a PDF for tablet viewing, think twice before mailing anything you can’t replace. If you want to keep an original (like a one-of-a-kind drawing or a photo you can’t reprint), mail a photocopy or a reprint instead.
2. Use a photo-printing vendor for physical photo originals - If your goal is for your loved one to receive the actual printed photographs (not just a scanned image on the tablet), send photos through a photo printing vendor that mails them directly, since IDOC says those originals can be delivered unless they’re otherwise unauthorized.