How to Email a Federal Inmate with CorrLinks

Why You Can't Start the Connection

TRULINCS is built so the inmate controls who is in their contact list. You cannot add them from the outside, they must add you first from a terminal inside the facility. This is BOP policy, not a CorrLinks limitation, and it applies at every federal facility in the country.

Tell the inmate your full name and the exact email address you'll register with on CorrLinks.com before they try to send the invite. A single typo means the invite goes nowhere.

Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Register on CorrLinks.com

Go to corrlinks.com and create a free account. Use your legal name, the name must match what the inmate enters when they submit the request. Use the email address you already told the inmate.

Step 2: Tell the inmate your email

The inmate goes to a TRULINCS terminal kiosk inside the facility and enters your full name and email address to send you a connection request. Depending on the facility's kiosk availability, this can take a day or two from when they decide to add you.

Step 3: Accept the invitation

You'll receive an email from CorrLinks with a subject like "Inmate Correspondence Invitation." Log into your CorrLinks account and accept the pending request. Once you accept, messaging is active on both sides.

Step 4: Start messaging

Log in at corrlinks.com and write your first message. The inmate reads it when they access a TRULINCS kiosk. They're charged for the time spent reading and composing, keep messages thoughtful but efficient to help stretch their account balance.

What Messaging Looks Like

Messages are plain text only, no images, no attachments, no clickable links. Each message can be up to 13,000 characters. It works more like email than chat: you send a message, they read it when they get kiosk time, they reply when ready. There's no notification on your end that they've read it.

All messages are visible to BOP staff. Don't include anything you wouldn't say in front of a corrections officer.

Cost and Billing

Your CorrLinks account is free. You write and send messages at no charge. The inmate pays $0.05 per minute of time spent reading and composing on the TRULINCS terminal. That comes out of their commissary Trust Fund account. If their balance is low, they won't be able to use TRULINCS for messaging. Send a MoneyGram or Western Union deposit to keep the account funded.

What CorrLinks Cannot Do

• No photo sharing of any kind (send photos by physical mail instead)
• No file or document attachments
• No video or voice messages
• No access from third-party apps (Gmail, WhatsApp, etc.)
• No real-time chat

For photos, mail standard prints (4x6 max, photo paper, no Polaroids) to the facility's P.O. Box address with the inmate's full name and register number.

If You Haven't Received an Invitation

If the inmate says they sent the invite but nothing arrived after 2–3 days:

• Check your spam or junk folder, CorrLinks emails often land there
• Confirm the exact email address character by character with the inmate
• Ask them to check the status of the pending contact request at the TRULINCS kiosk
• If still nothing after 5 days, have them try canceling and re-submitting

When the Inmate Transfers to Another Facility

Your connection stays active. TRULINCS accounts follow inmates across all BOP facilities. There may be a gap of a few days during the transfer when they have no kiosk access, but you don't need to re-establish the connection. It picks up automatically once they're settled at the new facility.

Works at Every BOP Facility

This setup process is identical at every Bureau of Prisons facility: FCI, FDC, USP, FPC, FCC, and FMC. The TRULINCS system is operated nationally by the BOP, and CorrLinks.com is the same interface regardless of where the inmate is housed. You only ever need one CorrLinks account, even if you're staying in touch with someone who transfers multiple times.