Ventura County Limits Inmate Mail to Postcards

VENTURA, Calif. — County inmates can no longer send or receive personal letters after Ventura County Sheriff’s Department implemented stringent new guidelines for jail mail.

 

Authorities banned personal letters for all inmates housed at the county’s three jail facilities, limiting incoming and outgoing personal mail to postcards.

 

The policy shift is designed to inhibit contraband flows, improving jail safety and security, and enhancing public safety beyond the walls. Contraband entering jails in envelopes, under stamps and between the pages of letters, and the exchange of coded information about gang-related and criminal activity represent growing problems in the county jail system, officials say.

 

There are no restrictions on the number of postcards that can be sent or received. However, existing restrictions regarding content, such as references to, or images of, nudity, violence and obscenity, and criminal organizations, remain in place under the new rules.

 

In addition to improved safety and security, limiting inmate mail to postcards will eliminate the need to inspect letters, envelopes and stamps for contraband, reducing staff’s mail-processing workload and cutting facility costs systemwide, officials say.

 

Official mail, such as correspondence to and from attorneys or the courts, and government documents are exempt from the new rules, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. Similarly, the policy change does not apply to books, magazines, newspapers or religious materials.