prison-penpal | California inmates looking for pen pals

Could one of these prison inmates from California be your new penpal ?

Sending Mail to a California Inmate

Inmates incarcerated in California may receive allowable items from anyone who is not currently incarcerated, or anyone who has not been released within the past year.  Anyone wishing to send an inmate a letter may do so, but the letter cannot contain anything that potential can put the safety and the security of the institution in jeopardy.  This would include letters that talk about escape, planning a criminal act, coded messages, hand drawn or printed maps, gang communications, or photos of a nude/sexual nature.

Inmates may receive up to 10 pages at a time, the pages can be drawings, a child’s school work, articles cut from a newspaper or magazine, but may not contain glue, stickers, glitter or any other embellishments such as lipstick perfume etc.

Inmates can have up to 10 photographs per envelope.  The photos can be as large as 8″x10″ but must not contain nudity, hand gestures, tattoos, or anything illegal or gang related.  Whenever sending photos to an inmate it is a good idea to write the inmates name and ID number in pen on the reverse side of the photo.  This will help ensure the photos are delivered to the right inmate.  

Inmates are also allowed to receive cards, but they must not contain electronics, nudity or anything offensive in nature.

California prison inmates looking for pen pals

All mail is opened and inspected, sometimes read.  At no time may you send any other items to an inmate directly from you.  Inmates can receive books, magazines and newspapers but they must come directly from an approved source, we will give more information about how you can send these things to an inmate below.

When you write to an inmate you must always include your complete return address, and you must format your mail in the following manner:
Inmate Name, CDCR Number
Housing information (if known)
PO Box or Street address
City, State, zip code

Please note the CDCR Number is the California Department of Corrections Number.  Usually mail is delivered within seven days of it arriving at the facility, but certain circumstances such as a lockdown or a large influx of mail during holidays can slow down delivery.

California inmates can also receive packages that can contain food, hygiene, and electronic items from an approved third party vendor (Union Supply Direct, or Access Securpak just to name a few).  Not all inmates will qualify for these package and certain restrictions can apply.

Mail Books and Magazines to California Inmates

California inmates are also allowed to receive new soft cover books directly from a publisher such as Amazon.com.  You can also order magazines and newspapers from Amazon.com but there are restrictions on the content.  None of the content in books, magazines or newspapers can contain maps, incite hate or violence, or have any type of nudity.

This is a list of state prisons in California operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 

 CDCR operates 35 adult prisons in California, with a design capacity of 85,083 incarcerated people. CDCR both owns and operates 34 of the state prisons; it additionally operates California City Correctional Facility, a prison leased from CoreCivic.

CDCR operates a variety of other incarceration facilities, including fire camps and California Division of Juvenile Justice facilities. For more information on the totality of jurisdictions and facilities involved in incarceration in California, see Incarceration in California. For more information on the history, conditions, and demographics of California’s prison system specifically, see Prisons in California.

California facilities

As well as listings on this site, all inmate profiles will also be included on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages – all included in the basic price.