Sending Legal Mail to SCI Laurel Highlands: Control Numbers, Addressing, and What Is Allowed
If you're an attorney or court sending privileged correspondence to someone at SCI Laurel Highlands, your envelope must meet Pennsylvania DOC legal mail rules. The key difference from regular mail: privileged mail requires a DOC-issued control number and must go to the institution's legal mailing address, not the general mail vendor.
In Pennsylvania DOC facilities, "legal mail" (also called privileged correspondence) includes a DOC-issued attorney or court control number on the envelope. Not everyone can get one. Control numbers are issued only to attorneys who represent inmates or to verified courts and court entities.
- Complete a control number request form - You need to request and receive an attorney/court control number before you send privileged correspondence.
- Use that control number on future legal-mail envelopes - Privileged status is tied to the DOC-issued control number, so the mailing has to be prepared with it from the start.
Addressing Privileged Envelopes
- ✓ Put a full return address on the envelope (sender name and address).
Privileged envelopes must follow a specific format and go to the legal mailing address for the institution where the inmate is housed. For SCI Laurel Highlands, your address block should look like this: Inmate Name / Inmate Number SCI Laurel Highlands SCI Laurel Highlands Legal Mail Address Using the institution's legal mail address is what routes your item into the privileged correspondence stream.
- ✓ Display the attorney or court control number associated with the law office on the envelope.
- ✓ If you are an attorney, also include the weekly secondary authentication number/time code issued for that week.
What goes inside matters as much as how you address the outside. Privileged correspondence may only contain documents that originated from the sending attorney or court. Original third-party documents are strictly prohibited.
Warning: If the envelope or contents do not meet privileged-mail requirements, the correspondence may be rejected, and the associated attorney control number may be revoked.
Privileged (legal) mail goes directly to the institution where the inmate is housed. Use SCI Laurel Highlands' legal mailing address with the required inmate name/number format so it's treated as privileged correspondence.
Non-privileged (general) mail doesn't go to the institution directly. Instead, it routes through the Pennsylvania DOC mail vendor, Smart Communications. Include your return address plus the inmate's full name and number. The format is: Smart Communications/PA DOC Inmate Name / Inmate Number State Correctional Institution PO Box 33028 St. Petersburg, Florida 33733
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