I have a few questions about sending books to inmates:
1. Are their specific rules/guidelines for each prison on sending books?
2. Are certain books/magazines banned (I know porn is banned)?
3. Are the guidlines/rules different for each prison?
4. How do I send books through Amazon?
Thanks for any of your help. :)
Last post
Hi there! I myself have only been sending books to my pen pal in Texas so far, so I'm not sure if all States have the exact same rules, however they should at least be similar. The best thing to do would be to just ask your inmate about it, I mean, who would know better than them? If you want it to be a surprise, the safest way would be to just try and follow the most general guidelines, that I'm sure exist in every prison in US, such as NOT to send hardcovers, sexually explicit contents (although I've sent quite a few Penthouse books to my pen pal, so maybe those are not considered as 'porn', at least not in Texas?:))), of course all books and magazines have to be new and sent directly from vendor. You send books through Amazon the same way you would send them to anyone in the free world for that matter:) I've never been too careful with what books I send, yet never had any problems with that, though I've been doing that for 8 years already...
[quote]1. Are their specific rules/guidelines for each prison on sending books?[/quote]
Some of it can be up to the discretion of the warden. It varies by state and beyond that by prison. You should look around the website of the prison where your pen pal is serving. However, one common rule is that books do need to be paperback. Hardcover books make for improvised bludgeoning weapons.
[quote]2. Are certain books/magazines banned (I know porn is banned)?[/quote]
I'm not sure. I tried to send one of my pen pals a coloring book of tattoos, and the prison rejected that. She says that other inmates got it, and thinks the warden might have just been rejecting all Amazon shipments for a time. They sent it back and I got a refund from Amazon.
[quote]3. Are the guidlines/rules different for each prison?[/quote]
Yes.
[quote]4. How do I send books through Amazon?[/quote]
Very simply set up a new shipping address on Amazon and use that as the shipping address for an order you place. But be careful for your future orders. You don't want to send something you intend to order for yourself off to your pen pal.