Why Your Mail to Western Virginia Regional Jail Might Get Rejected
Mail rules at Western Virginia Regional Jail are strict. Small details can mean the difference between delivery and a return-to-sender stamp. Use these checks to keep your letter from getting rejected or seized.
Start by sending mail to the right address. As of January 18, 2024, all inmate postal mail must go to the facility P.O. Box in Phoenix, Maryland. Print the inmate's full name and inmate ID number clearly on the outside of the envelope or postcard. Miss either one, and the jail will return your mail.
Watch the weight: No mail weighing more than 1 ounce will be accepted - anything over 1 ounce is returned to the sender.
Certain content will get your mail rejected outright. Obscenity, sexually explicit material, blackmail, contraband, or threats - any of these can stop your letter before it reaches your loved one. Writing about difficult topics? Keep it clean and straightforward. Anything that reads as a threat or pressure tactic puts the whole piece of mail at risk.
Mail that looks like it's helping someone commit a crime or disrupt the facility gets rejected too. This includes plans for criminal activity, maps, or escape plots. It also covers anything meant to encourage strikes, riots, fights, racial hatred, religious hatred, or other prohibited acts. Even casual conversation can be flagged if it reads as organizing, instructing, or escalating conflict.
There's a broader catch-all rule that trips people up: any publication that may adversely affect the security of the jail or the safety of people inside can be rejected. Sending printed material? Staff aren't just looking for obvious contraband - they're screening for anything they believe could create a security risk.
Planning to mail photos? Don't expect them to arrive the way you sent them. The jail photocopies all photos - originals go into the inmate's property, and the copy is what gets delivered. Even approved photos may show up as reproductions rather than the originals you sent.
- ✓ Send photos only if you’re okay with them being photocopied
- ✓ Don’t mail one-of-a-kind or irreplaceable originals
- ✓ Assume the original will go into property and the inmate will receive a photocopy
Contraband found in inmate mail will be seized. The jail notifies both the inmate and the sender when an item is taken, along with the reason for the seizure.
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