Sending Money to Collins Correctional Facility

The DIN Comes First

Every deposit is matched to a Department Identification Number, never to a name and never to a facility.

Two people can share a name. Nobody shares a DIN. Run the lookup, write the number down, then send.

The useful consequence at Collins is that the address problem disappears. P.O. Box 340 and its ZIP matter enormously for a letter and not at all for a deposit, because the money never comes to Erie County.

Six Routes In

Route	Where	Cost	Limit
Money order or check by post	JPay lockbox, PO Box 531190, Miami, FL 33153	Free	$999.99 per money order or check
Visitor lockbox	Inside Collins, on a visit day	Free	$50 cash a day in total, plus money orders and checks
Online	JPay, via the DOCCS account deposits page	$1.75 to $4.75	$2 to $300
JPay mobile app	JPay	$1.75 to $4.75	$2 to $300
Phone	JPay, 1-800-574-5729	$1.75 to $4.75	$2 to $300
MoneyGram	MoneyGram agent	$4	Set by MoneyGram

The two free routes are slower and take larger amounts. The paid ones post faster and cap lower. For most families the post is fine, because commissary is bought on a schedule anyway.

The Deposit Slip Is Not Optional

DOCCS publishes a JPay deposit slip in English and Spanish, and it goes in the envelope with the money order.

Without it, a payment arrives with nothing attached to say who it belongs to. The slip carries the DIN and the DIN is what the deposit is matched against. It costs nothing to include.

The Lockbox Inside

Collins has a visitor deposit lockbox like every New York state prison. It takes cash up to $50 a day in total, along with money orders and checks, and there is no fee.

Read that cap carefully. It is $50 for the day, however many of you are visiting, not $50 each. Three adults arriving together still leave $50 between them in cash.

The lockbox is more usable here than at many prisons, because Collins is on the free visitor bus route and Buffalo is about forty minutes away. The constraint is which day of the weekend belongs to his housing group, so confirm that before planning a trip around the lockbox.

It is not processed at the prison. DOCCS forwards what goes in it to JPay, so it takes the same path and timing as a posted money order.

Never in the Letter

Money does not go in an envelope to P.O. Box 340.

Incoming mail is opened and inspected specifically for cash, checks and money orders. Enclosing money does not speed anything up. It gets the money intercepted and it delays the letter.

The letter goes to Collins. The money goes to Miami.

What the Balance Buys

The account covers commissary: food, coffee, hygiene items, stationery, stamps and over-the-counter basics.

It also covers secure messaging stamps through JPay’s kiosk service at the terminals and tablets.

What it no longer covers is the telephone. New York made calls from state prisons free to families on 1 August 2025, so an empty balance does not mean silence.

Packages Are a Separate Budget

Packages come directly from an approved vendor and ship by USPS, FedEx or UPS, and families cannot post or carry one in.

The allowance is two non-food packages a year and three food packages a month, capped at a combined 40 pounds. Funding commissary does not use up a package allowance, and ordering a package does not draw on the balance.

A Transfer Does Not Break It

New York moves people between prisons and the account follows, because JPay holds it against the DIN and not the building.

The letter address does change, and at Collins a move inside the prison can change the visiting day too. Check the lookup before you post, and ask about housing before you travel.

How to Send Money to Collins, Step by Step

This is the free route, start to finish.

1. Run the lookup and write down the full name and the DIN.
2. Print the JPay deposit slip from the DOCCS account deposits page, in English or Spanish.
3. Fill in the slip: full name, DIN, and the facility.
4. Buy a money order for up to $999.99, made out as the slip directs.
5. Put the slip and the money order in one envelope. Nothing else goes in it.
6. Post it to JPay, PO Box 531190, Miami, FL 33153.
7. Keep the money order stub. It is the only proof you have if the deposit has to be traced.

If you need it there faster, the online, app and phone routes cost $1.75 to $4.75 and take $2 to $300 at a time.

What Money Cannot Say

A funded account buys coffee and shampoo. It does not tell anyone they are thought about.

Pigeonly sends letters and photos to Collins from your phone with P.O. Box 340, the matching ZIP and the DIN already in place, which is the part of keeping in touch a deposit was never going to cover.