What You Can and Can't Mail to Travis County Jail: Contraband, Photo, and Book Rules
Mail rules at Travis County Jail are strict. Small mistakes—wrong envelope, a book shipped from you instead of a retailer—can get the whole thing rejected. Follow these rules to keep your letters, photos, and reading materials from bouncing back.
All mail has to go directly to the facility where the person is housed. Letters, cards, any correspondence - send it straight there. Routing it through someone else or to a different address can cause delays or get it returned.
- ✓ Inmate’s full name
- ✓ Inmate’s date of birth
- ✓ Inmate’s Jail ID number or booking number
- ✓ Your return address (on every mailed item)
Top Contraband
- ✓ Postage stamps
- ✓ Metered or stamped envelopes
- ✓ Blank paper
- ✓ Blank envelopes (even if they’re not addressed)
- ✓ Addressed envelopes
- ✓ Return-address labels
- ✓ Sticky notes
- ✓ Stickers
- ✓ Tape, lamination, or any adhesives
- ✓ Art supplies (including writing instruments, watercolors/paint, glitter, glue, felt, ribbon, beads, magnets, etc.)
- ✓ Blank or unsigned greeting cards or postcards
- ✓ Greeting cards with musical devices or attachments
- ✓ Greeting cards larger than 8"x10"
- ✓ Hard plastic items or cardboard items
- ✓ Credit cards, phone cards, driver’s licenses, or photo IDs
- ✓ Games, playing cards/flash cards, CDs, DVDs, audio tapes, or video tapes
- ✓ Original documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, Social Security cards, car titles, etc.)
Note: If prohibited stationery items (like stamps, blank paper, or extra envelopes) are included, the jail can reject the mailing and return it to the sender.
Keep photos simple and within size limits. Anything over 8"x10" can be rejected, and instant-photo prints (like Polaroids) usually aren't accepted. Content matters too - nothing nude, sexually explicit, graphic, or gang-related. If staff flag an image as prohibited, it won't reach the person you're trying to send it to.
Travis County Jail has a "publisher-only" rule for reading materials. Paperback books, magazines, and newspapers must come directly from a U.S. publisher, distributor, or bookstore - not from you personally. The return address needs to clearly show a store or publisher name (the jail also requires a store hand stamp and that the store be listed with U.S. directory assistance). Ordering online? Double-check that the shipment will show the retailer or publisher as the sender, not your name.
- ✓ The inmate is not allowed to possess more than two books and two magazines at a time.
- ✓ If books or magazines arrive when the inmate already has more than the allowed limit, the items will be returned to the publisher.
- Mail it to the correct facility - Send letters, cards, and other correspondence directly to the facility where the person is currently housed.
- Put the right identifiers on the envelope - Include their full name, date of birth, and Jail ID number or booking number so mailroom staff can match it correctly.
- Always include your return address - Mail without a return address doesn’t meet the jail’s requirements.
- Order books the “publisher-only” way - Paperbacks, magazines, and newspapers must come straight from a U.S. publisher/supplier/warehouse or bookstore (not an individual), with a store/publisher return address.
- Keep contraband out of your letter - Don’t tuck in stamps, extra envelopes, blank paper, stickers, sticky notes, or anything with adhesive; those items are specifically listed as prohibited and can trigger a return.
Tip: Before you send more reading material, try to confirm what they already have - if they’re at the two-book/two-magazine limit, the new items can be returned to the publisher.
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