The Sheriff's Office names no deposit vendor anywhere on its own website, which is unusual for a jail this size. Send photos and letters too.
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This is the thinnest part of Alameda County’s published information, and we would rather say so than fill the gap with a guess. The Sheriff’s Office documents one deposit route in real detail, money orders and cashier’s checks by mail, right down to how the mailroom posts them. It documents no online or phone deposit route at all, and names no deposit vendor anywhere on its website. A vendor page does list this jail’s address, and that is worth knowing, but it is the vendor saying so rather than the Sheriff.
County policy 17.01 covers money arriving by mail, and it is specific.
Money orders and cashier’s checks are the only form of money accepted through the mail. Personal checks are returned to sender. The order must be made out to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, or ACSO, or Alameda County S.O., and it must carry the person’s name and PFN on the face. A first initial is acceptable only if the PFN is legible.
A mailroom clerk posts it to the account through the jail’s management system, which prints a three-part cash voucher. The original goes to the person inside along with their mail. No checks are cashed at the jail, and any check sent for endorsement goes to the Re-Entry and Support Services Unit.
One question that policy does not answer. Since February 2026, personal mail goes to a processing centre in Las Vegas rather than to the jail. The Pigeonly guidance lists cash, gift cards and credit cards among prohibited items and does not mention money orders at all, while policy 17.01 still describes the jail’s own mailroom handling them. No official source says which address a money order should go to now. That is the first thing to ask when you call.
There is no deposit page, no commissary page and no phone page anywhere on the Sheriff’s website. Extracting every link from the homepage returns exactly three jail-related destinations: the visiting page and two versions of the inmate locator.
So the following are all unconfirmed, and we are not going to state them:
A vendor page does exist. ConnectNetwork, operated by ViaPath Technologies, publishes an Alameda County page listing this jail’s street address at 5325 Broder Blvd and offering three products: AdvancePay Phone, PIN Debit and Trust Fund. Its own disclosure states deposits to a trust account are provided by TouchPay Holdings, trading as GTL Financial Services, a Global Tel*Link company now operating as ViaPath Technologies.
That is a vendor describing its own coverage, not the Sheriff endorsing it. Worth knowing, worth verifying by phone before you send money through it.
County policy 18.06 covers commissary and is unusually detailed.
Ordering. Orders are placed through the phone system and must be in before 10:00 PM the night before delivery. Bags arrive at the housing unit between 6:00 and 8:00 PM, handed out by vendor staff between dinner and lights out.
Delivery days depend on the housing unit. Mondays for units 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. Fridays for the Outpatient Housing Unit and units 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Holidays can shift it. This is another reason the housing unit matters.
The ID card is not optional. Policy states that people without an identification card will not receive commissary, no exceptions.
The weekly limit is stated twice, differently, in the same document. One section says purchase limits are $175.00 per week. Another says the vendor adjusts down any order over the maximum allowed buy of $150.00 per week. Both are in county policy 18.06 and they do not agree, so we are showing you both rather than picking one.
Stockpiling is capped. More than ten of any one product type is confiscated.
The commissary vendor is never named in the policy.
The indigent threshold at this jail is under $9.75, with no online order pending, and county policy defines it in a way worth repeating: indigent means having less money in the trust account than the value of a Clipper Card.
An indigent person receives a maintenance kit at no charge: body wash, toothbrush, toothpaste, razors, shaving gel, comb, shampoo, pencil, eight sheets of writing paper and four postage-paid stamped envelopes.
At intake, everyone gets a new-book bag containing a Rules and Regulations Booklet, toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash, comb and two disposable razors.
6 of 8 questions
The only route Alameda County documents is a money order or cashier's check by mail, made payable to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office with the person's name and PFN on the face. Personal checks are returned to sender. The Sheriff's Office names no online or phone deposit vendor anywhere on its own website, so call 925-551-6500 and ask what it currently accepts.
Send MoneyUnconfirmed, and worth resolving before you post one. County policy still describes the jail's own mailroom processing money orders, but that policy was last revised before the February 2026 mail change, and the new guidance lists cash, gift cards and credit cards as prohibited without mentioning money orders at all. No official source resolves it. Ask when you call.
Send MoneyProbably, but not on the Sheriff's authority. ConnectNetwork, operated by ViaPath Technologies, publishes an Alameda County page listing this jail's street address and offering AdvancePay Phone, PIN Debit and Trust Fund products. That is a vendor describing its own coverage. The Sheriff's Office does not name, link or acknowledge any deposit vendor, so confirm by phone before sending money that way.
Send MoneyNot published by the county, in any form. No fee, minimum, maximum or posting time appears on the Sheriff's site or in county policy. We would rather tell you the figure is not public than repeat one from another county.
Send MoneyThe person inside orders through the phone system, and the order must be placed before 10:00 PM the night before their delivery day. Bags arrive at the housing unit between 6:00 and 8:00 PM, between dinner and lights out. Anyone without an identification card does not receive commissary, with no exceptions.
Send MoneyIt depends on the housing unit. Mondays for units 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. Fridays for the Outpatient Housing Unit and units 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Holidays can move it. This is one more reason to find out the housing unit when you call.
Send MoneyCounty policy states it two different ways in the same document. One section says $175.00 per week. Another says the vendor reduces any order above a maximum allowed buy of $150.00 per week. Both are official and they conflict, so plan around the lower figure and confirm with the jail.
Send MoneyAlameda County treats someone as indigent when their trust account holds under $9.75 with no online order pending, a threshold county policy describes as less than the value of a Clipper Card. An indigent person receives a free maintenance kit including eight sheets of writing paper and four postage-paid stamped envelopes.
Send MoneyGet the PFN number. Everything else at this jail depends on it.
View ArticleAppointment only, no Wednesdays, and a schedule organised by housing unit.
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View ArticlePersonal mail goes to Las Vegas. Originals are destroyed, not returned.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 8, 2026.