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Since May 2, 2022, a letter to someone at Marin County Jail travels to Nevada before it reaches San Rafael. The Sheriff’s Office contracted the handling of personal mail to Pigeonly Corrections, and says so under a heading on its own website. What makes Marin easier to get right than most counties is that it publishes the specifics: exact envelope and photo dimensions, a list of what is accepted, a list of what gets flagged, and a real timeline for how long each stage takes. What it never publishes is what happens to a letter sent to the jail’s street address by mistake.
[Full Legal Name, Marin County Jail ID Number]
Marin County Jail - 1102
PO Box 96777
Las Vegas, NV 89193
The 1102 is part of the published address block, and it belongs on the envelope. The name and ID number come from the person’s record on the county booking log.
Marin’s rollout notice is direct about the arrangement: the processing facility is operated by Pigeonly Corrections, which opens all non-legal mail and scans it into a digital colour copy. That copy is printed and delivered to the jail.
Most counties say “reasonable size” and leave you guessing. Marin gives numbers.
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Envelope | No larger than 4 in. x 9.5 in. |
| Letter paper | No larger than 8.5 in. x 11 in. |
| Greeting card | No larger than 5 in. x 7 in. |
| Postcard | Exactly 5 in. x 7 in. |
| Photograph | 4 in. x 6 in., limit ten |
Every piece of mail must also carry a return address.
The accepted list, in the county’s own terms: letters, including children’s drawings, greeting cards, postcards, 4x6 photos limited to ten, and unbound newsletters.
Children’s drawings being named explicitly is worth noticing. At a jail where mail is scanned, a drawing is one of the few things that survives the process intact, because a colour scan of a drawing is still the drawing.
Two separate lists, and they fail in different ways.
Refused on format: anything with glitter, rhinestones, stickers or glued items. Greeting cards that are electronic, have pop-ups, or are oversized. Photographs smaller or larger than 4 by 6. Unused or blank envelopes, paper, stationery and stamps. Official documents. Bulk mail.
Flagged as undeliverable on content: nudity, explicit sexual material, obscene material, violent language, promotion of violence, and contraband including weapons, drugs, or items of unknown substance or odour.
If something is censored or rejected, Custody Manual policy 1014.6 requires notice to be given to the sender or the recipient, unless that notice would jeopardise an investigation or jail security. So there is a published expectation of being told, with a stated exception.
Marin holds original mail for 45 days and then destroys it. The rollout notice is blunt about the other half: originals will not be returned to the sender.
That is a longer hold than most scanning counties and a harder rule at the end of it. There is no published mechanism to ask for a photograph back. So the practical instruction is simple and worth taking seriously: post copies, keep originals. A photograph you send here is a photograph you have given up.
Marin County’s own website carries a section headed Pigeonly, and inside the Sheriff’s own PDF is this: friends and family are encouraged to create an account at pigeonly.com, where they can send a limited amount of mail free from any cell phone, tablet or computer.
That is the agency telling you to do it, not us.
Here is why it saves real time. The county publishes the whole clock: within 24 hours of receipt the mail is opened and scanned, shared with the jail for screening, then printed and shipped, and printed mail reaches the jail by Priority Mail within 1 to 3 days of shipment.
None of that clock starts until the letter physically arrives in Las Vegas. A letter posted from California to that PO Box is 3 to 5 business days in transit before the 24-hour scan even begins.
A free account at Pigeonly removes that leg entirely. You upload from your phone and it is printed and prepared from our side, so the letter enters the process at the scan stage instead of waiting in the post to get there. The county’s address above is still correct and still works. This is the same destination, minus the days spent travelling to it.
Three categories keep the jail’s street address, per the Sheriff’s own list.
[Full Legal Name, Marin County Jail ID Number]
Marin County Jail
13 Peter Behr Drive
San Rafael, CA 94903
Legal mail. Attorneys continue to send legal mail directly to the jail.
Official documents. Bank documents, birth certificates, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, welfare cards, medical cards, school diplomas and checks. One thing to know before you send any of these: the county states that official documents will be held on file for the person, meaning they go into property rather than being handed over.
Printed material sent directly from a publisher or commercial dealer. Magazines, newspapers, periodicals, soft-covered books and photo books.
On books specifically, the county adds two rules: paperback books and magazines are allowed only if sent from a bookstore or the publisher, a person may hold a total of five soft-covered books or magazines, and hardback books, catalogues, brochures and advertisements are not permitted.
What happens to a personal letter sent to 13 Peter Behr Drive by mistake.
The rollout notice says non-legal mail must go to the PO Box, and then publishes no consequence. There is no statement that such mail is returned, forwarded or destroyed. Rather than guess, we would say what is published and suggest asking on 415-473-6655 if you have already sent one.
Two return rules are published, and both are narrower. Cash sent by mail is returned to the sender. And under Custody Manual policy 1014.7, non-legal mail for someone no longer in custody is returned to the sender with a note that they are not in custody, while obvious legal mail is forwarded to a new address if it is reasonably known.
The custody division FAQ still carries pre-2022 wording: that mail is opened and searched for contraband, cash and money orders, then delivered to the person without unnecessary delay. That describes the old on-site process.
The Pigeonly section on the Detention Bureau page is the current one. If you find the older sentence, it is a leftover rather than a second route.
One more piece from the Sheriff’s PDF, and almost nobody knows it: after release, a formerly incarcerated person can email [email protected] with their name and ID number to download their scanned mail items, free.
Every letter that reached them inside is recoverable. For someone who has just left with nothing, that can be the only copy of anything anyone sent them.
6 of 9 questions
Address it to the person's full legal name and ID number, then the line Marin County Jail - 1102, then PO Box 96777, Las Vegas, NV 89193. Personal mail has gone to that Nevada processing centre since May 2, 2022, where it is opened, scanned into a colour copy, and printed for delivery to the jail.
MailMarin publishes exact limits. Envelopes no larger than 4 by 9.5 inches, letter paper no larger than 8.5 by 11, greeting cards no larger than 5 by 7, postcards exactly 5 by 7, and photographs at 4 by 6 inches with a limit of ten. Photos smaller or larger than 4 by 6 are refused. Every piece must carry a return address.
MailNo. The Sheriff's notice states that originals will not be returned to the sender. They are held for 45 days and then securely destroyed, and no process is published for asking for something back inside that window. Send copies and keep your originals, particularly of anything irreplaceable.
MailMarin County's own site has a section headed Pigeonly and encourages families to create a free account at pigeonly.com. It saves real time here: a letter posted to the Las Vegas PO Box spends 3 to 5 business days in transit before the county's published 24-hour scan even starts. Uploading from your phone skips that leg, so the letter enters at the scanning stage instead of waiting in the post to arrive.
MailMarin does not publish an answer, and we are not going to invent one. The rollout notice says non-legal mail must go to the PO Box but states no consequence, so there is no official word on whether such a letter is forwarded, returned or destroyed. Call 415-473-6655 and ask if you have already sent one.
MailYes, to the jail itself at 13 Peter Behr Drive, and only if it comes directly from a bookstore or the publisher. Paperbacks and magazines are allowed, hardbacks, catalogues, brochures and advertisements are not, and a person may hold a total of five soft-covered books or magazines at once.
MailTo the jail directly, at 13 Peter Behr Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. Attorneys keep sending legal mail there. So do official documents such as bank papers, birth certificates, Social Security cards, driver's licenses, welfare and medical cards, diplomas and checks. Note that the county states official documents are held on file rather than handed to the person.
MailYes, and few people know it. The Sheriff's own notice states that after release, a formerly incarcerated person can email [email protected] with their name and ID number to download their scanned mail items for free. For someone leaving with nothing, those scans may be the only surviving copy of what family sent.
MailMarin publishes the internal clock: within 24 hours of receipt the mail is opened, scanned and shared with the jail for screening, then printed and shipped, arriving at the jail within 1 to 3 days of shipment. What that clock leaves out is the postal transit to Nevada in the first place, which is where most of the waiting actually happens.
MailThe ID number the envelope needs comes from this record.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 9, 2026.