How to send messages, photos, and packages
SCI Albion uses the PA DOC Zoom system for video visits. After scheduling, you'll get a Video Call URL in IVS plus an automated confirmation email with the meeting ID and password. Click the URL or open Zoom and enter the credentials manually—either works. Log in just a few minutes before your scheduled time. The facility also uses PA DOC‑approved tablets, but only inmates can order them through commissary. Family and friends fund purchases through JPay. These tablets don't include Wi‑Fi or a camera by default, and here's the catch: they have a 30‑day mortality timer. If the tablet isn't synced to a prison kiosk at least every 30 days, it locks. For tablet support, call ViaPath Technologies at 877-650-4249.
Search for a loved one and send messages and photos in minutes.
Sending a letter or photos to someone at SCI Albion? Everything goes through Smart Communications first. Get the envelope details right, and your mail arrives without a hitch. Miss something, and you're looking at delays.
Use the Video Call URL in IVS or the confirmation email, which includes the meeting ID and password. Click the link or enter the credentials in the Zoom app. Log in just a few minutes before your scheduled start time—not earlier.
At SCI Albion, tablets are ordered only by inmates through commissary. Family and friends pay for them by funding the purchase through JPay.
Tablets have a 30-day mortality timer and must be synced to a prison kiosk at least every 30 days. If they aren’t synced in time, the tablet will lock.
ViaPath Technologies handles tablet customer support for friends and family. Call 877-650-4249 for technical help or account assistance.
Send letters and photos to Smart Communications' P.O. Box in St. Petersburg, Florida. Include the inmate's full name and number, plus a complete, legible return address.
Yes. Photos are allowed, but you’re limited to 25 per mailing, and they can’t contain nudity or explicit sexual material. Photos can’t be returned, and originals are destroyed after 45 days.
PA DOC sets clear limits on how many people can join a visit — plus monthly quotas that affect how often your loved one sees visitors. Here's how the numbers break down for in-person and video visits, so you can plan ahead.
SCI Albion video visits run through the Pennsylvania DOC Inmate Visitation System (IVS). You'll verify your identity with Keystone Login when signing in, but the visit itself happens on Zoom—so every join method ultimately launches a Zoom meeting.
Trying to schedule a visit at SCI Albion? You might hit a confusing snag. One PA DOC page says,
