Why Your Letter Might Arrive as a Copy: IDOC's Black‑and‑White Copying Policy

If your loved one at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility mentions that your letter arrived as a black-and-white copy, that's not a mistake. IDOC policy requires the mail room to photocopy all general correspondence. The copy gets delivered. The original doesn't.

This catches a lot of people off guard with faith-based or school-related materials. But those count as general correspondence at Wabash Valley too - so they get the same black-and-white copy treatment instead of arriving as the original you sent.

Legal mail is the big exception. Correspondence from a court, an attorney, or a legal organization can be treated as legal mail at Wabash Valley - but only if it's clearly identified as such. That distinction matters. Without proper identification, it gets lumped in with general correspondence and copied.

• ✓ Mark the envelope so it’s clearly identified as legal mail if you want it handled as legal mail (this is the sender’s responsibility).
• ✓ If it’s privileged correspondence, designate it on the envelope as “privileged.”

Sometimes mail gets held up because staff decide to delay, censor, or withhold it. When that happens at Wabash Valley, the incarcerated person should be notified within two working days.

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• ✓ If you’re sending something that should be treated as legal mail, clearly mark it as legal mail so it’s handled that way.
• ✓ Don’t assume educational or religious items will arrive as originals - at Wabash Valley they’re treated as general correspondence and will be copied in black and white.
• ✓ Keep copies of anything important before you mail it, especially documents you may need again.

Plan around this: general correspondence originals aren't delivered at Wabash Valley. If something is irreplaceable, don't send the only copy. The person inside will receive a black-and-white photocopy, not what you actually put in the envelope.