What Happens to Your Letter After You Mail It to Rock Island County Jail
Rock Island County Jail scans all personal mail before delivery. Here's what happens from the moment you drop your letter in the mailbox to when your loved one can read it.
As of July 1, 2024, personal mail doesn't go directly into the jail as physical paper. Instead, your letter gets routed to a designated P.O. Box, scanned, reviewed, and delivered digitally to the inmate's tablet. They'll read it on screen rather than holding the original page.
Why scanning? This process keeps hazardous contraband - like paper coated with fentanyl, K2, Suboxone, or other drugs - from entering the facility through the mail.
Your letter doesn't go straight to the jail's front desk. Since July 1, 2024, personal mail addressed to someone at Rock Island County Jail routes to a designated P.O. Box for electronic processing.
The biggest delay is USPS transit time to that P.O. Box. Once your letter arrives there, things move fast - scanned mail typically reaches the inmate within 1–2 business days.
At the P.O. Box, staff convert your mail into electronic copies. Letters, postcards, greeting cards, photographs, drawings - all of it gets scanned for digital delivery instead of being passed along as physical paper.
This isn't just about convenience. Scanning is how the jail screens for illegal narcotics, synthetics, and chemical intoxicants that can be applied to paper - substances that are hard to detect during a normal inspection.
Heads up: Even items like greeting cards, photos, and drawings are scanned and reviewed. Plan for your loved one to see a digital version, since the process is designed to screen out dangerous substances that can be carried on paper.
Once your mail clears review, it's delivered electronically. Your loved one won't receive the original paper - they'll get the scanned version as a free attachment in the Facility Message app on the facility's tablet system. This applies whether you sent a letter, postcard, card, photos, or drawing.
How they'll see it: Approved mail shows up as a free-to-read attachment in the Facility Message app.
The original paper doesn't stick around. Hard copies are kept at the P.O. Box for 30 days, then shredded and destroyed.
Wondering when your loved one will see your letter? Two factors matter: USPS transit time to the P.O. Box, then the jail's scanning workflow. Once mail arrives at the P.O. Box, the scanned version typically reaches the inmate within 1–2 business days.
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