Sending Photos to SCI Benner Township: The 25-Photo Limit and What Happens to Originals

Photos sent to SCI Benner Township count as "general incoming correspondence" - you don't mail them directly to the prison. Instead, send them to the Pennsylvania DOC's third-party mail vendor, Smart Communications, using this format: Smart Communications/PA DOC, Inmate Name, Inmate Number, State Correctional Institution, PO Box 33028, St. Petersburg, FL 33733.

Include your full return address on the envelope, with your first and last name. Double-check that you've written the incarcerated person's full, correct name and inmate number - both are required for the mail to be processed.

Here's how it works: Smart Communications receives your mailing, opens it, and scans everything - letters and photos - into an electronic document. That document gets printed at the SCI Benner Township mailroom and delivered to the inmate.

Stick to 25 photos or fewer per envelope. The limit applies to each mailing, so if you try to squeeze in more than 25, you're asking for trouble. Got a bigger batch? Split it into separate mailings.

• ✓ No obscenity
• ✓ No explicit sexual material
• ✓ No nudity

Once Smart Communications scans your photos, the originals don't go back in the mail. The vendor holds them for 45 days, then securely destroys them. If those photos matter to you, keep the originals at home and send duplicates or prints made specifically for mailing.

Quick Checklist

• ✓ Address it to Smart Communications/PA DOC with the inmate’s full name, inmate number, and “State Correctional Institution,” then PO Box 33028, St. Petersburg, FL 33733
• ✓ Write your full return address, including your first and last name
• ✓ Double-check the inmate’s name and number are correct
• ✓ Keep it to 25 photos or fewer per mailing
• ✓ Don’t send photos with obscenity, explicit sexual material, or nudity
• ✓ Assume originals won’t come back: photos can’t be returned and are securely destroyed after 45 days