Understanding St. Lucie County Jail's Digital Mail System (What Changed in December 2023)

Starting December 1, 2023, St. Lucie County Jail moved to a digital mail system. Personal letters no longer arrive as paper - they're scanned at an offsite facility and delivered to inmates electronically.

Under the new system, you'll send personal mail to the facility's P.O. Box in Phoenix, Maryland. Include your loved one's full name and ID number so the scanning center can match it to the right person and deliver it electronically.

• ✓ Address personal mail to: P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131
• ✓ Include the inmate’s full name
• ✓ Include the inmate’s ID number

Legal and privileged mail works differently. The jail excludes legitimate legal correspondence from the scanning policy. Instead, a deputy opens and copies privileged mail in front of the inmate, then shreds the original.

Not everything can be mailed in. Due to limited storage space, the jail doesn't accept unauthorized items like books, excess clothing, or hygiene products through the mail.

1. Use the facility’s leisure library options - inmates can access selected periodicals, books, and newspapers at no charge through the facility leisure library.
2. Use chaplain services for religious reading - inmates can request religious reading material through chaplain services.
3. Use commissary for publications not provided - inmates who want a publication not offered by the leisure library may purchase one through the facility commissary program.

If your loved one says they haven't seen your letter, keep in mind that personal mail only appears after it's scanned and delivered to the tablet. For tablet-related issues - access problems, device questions - the jail directs people to Viapath Technologies customer care.

Since personal mail comes through the tablet, it helps to understand how tablet funding works. The jail directs people to gettingout.com to add funds to an inmate's tablet account. Separately, money turned in at the facility goes into the inmate's individual account for commissary purchases and facility expenses like booking fees, subsistence fees, and non-emergency medical care.

• ✓ Fund an inmate’s tablet through: gettingout.com
• ✓ Deposited funds go into the inmate’s account (receipted)
• ✓ Money may be used for commissary or applied to facility-incurred fees (booking, subsistence, self-initiated/non-emergency medical care)