Mail and Photos at Altona Correctional Facility

How to Address It

John Smith, 12A3456
Altona Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 3000
Altona, NY 12910-3000

Name and DIN together on the first line. The DIN is the Department Identification Number the state lookup returns, and mail without one cannot be sorted to a person.

One Box, No Bracket

Many New York prisons publish a business box on the address line and a separate family box in brackets beside it. Altona does not. NYSDOCCS lists the address as 555 Devils Den Road, P.O. Box 3000, Altona, NY 12910-3000, and that box is the one for family mail as well. The last four digits of the ZIP, 3000, match the box.

Altona, Not Dannemora

Clinton County holds two state prisons. Clinton Correctional Facility is in Dannemora, with its own address. Altona is at Devils Den Road with P.O. Box 3000. The facility name and address have to agree.

What the Envelope Needs

• Full name and DIN on the first line
• P.O. Box 3000, then Altona, NY 12910-3000
• Your full return address, in the top left corner
• Nothing else written on the outside

A letter with no return address is treated as contraband and is not delivered. That is the department’s own wording and it holds statewide.

The Paper Arrives

Mail at Altona is opened and inspected at the prison and then handed over. Your envelope, your handwriting, your paper.

Many New York county jails now route personal mail to a scanning centre and deliver it as an image on a tablet. State prisons do not.

What the Mailroom Refuses

Published by the department and applying statewide.

Refused	Note
Polaroid photographs	The format itself, whatever the picture shows
Nude photographs
Postage stamps	Do not enclose stamps for a reply
Letters from other people	Third-party mail, with an exception for children
Tape, glue or paste	Including on newspaper clippings
Cash, checks, money orders	Covered below

There is also a paper limit: five pages of printed or photocopied material per letter, with newspaper clippings counting one page each. Legal papers for an active case can exceed it only with the Superintendent’s written permission, obtained in advance, and no more than once every four months.

Photographs

Ordinary printed photographs get through and they are the best thing you can put in an envelope.

Polaroids do not, anywhere in New York, because of the format and not the picture. An instant print has a thick backing that can conceal things, so the category is excluded.

Order prints from a photo service or print them at home on ordinary photo paper, and keep writing on the back to a name and a date.

Money Goes to Miami

Nothing financial goes in the envelope. The inspection is looking for exactly that.

Deposits go to the JPay lockbox, PO Box 531190, Miami, Florida 33153, with a JPay deposit slip, capped at $999.99 per money order and free by post. On a visit day the lockbox inside Altona takes $50 in cash a day in total.

Packages Come From Vendors

Families cannot post or carry packages in. Everything arrives directly from an approved vendor by USPS, FedEx or UPS.

The allowance is two non-food packages a year and three food packages a month, food capped at a combined 40 pounds. The department publishes a disapproved vendor list and Directive #4911 carries the detail.

Legal Mail Runs Separately

Mail from a lawyer or a court is privileged under Directive #4421, and it is opened in front of the person it is addressed to, not in the mailroom.

A family member cannot send ordinary mail under a legal label. Trying it puts the letter at risk instead of speeding it up.

Between the Long Journeys

Altona is about five and a half hours from New York City, so for most families the post carries the weeks between visits.

Pigeonly prints and sends letters and photos to Altona with P.O. Box 3000, the full ZIP and the DIN already in place.