Sending Money to Franklin Correctional Facility

Start With the DIN, Not the Address

A 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. So the order is: run the lookup, write the DIN down, then send the money. Skipping that step is how a payment ends up sitting unmatched.

The useful side effect at Franklin is that the address problem disappears. P.O. Box 10 and P.O. Box 2000 matter enormously for a letter and not at all for a deposit, because the deposit never comes to Malone.

Six Routes In

Route	Where	Cost	Limit
Money order or check by post	JPay, PO Box 531190, Miami, FL 33153	Free	$999.99 per money order or check
Visitor lockbox	Inside Franklin, on a visit day	Free	$50 cash a day in total, plus money orders and checks
Online	JPay website, with a credit or debit card	$1.75 to $4.75	$2 to $300
JPay mobile app	App Store or Google Play	$1.75 to $4.75	$2 to $300
Phone	JPay, 1-800-574-5729, with a credit card	$1.75 to $4.75	$2 to $300
MoneyGram	Any MoneyGram location, cash, Receive Code 1317	$4	Set by MoneyGram

Free is slower. Paid is faster. That is the entire decision, and 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 a money order arriving without one is money with nothing attached to say who it belongs to.

Fill in the DIN, the full name and the facility, and put it in with the money order. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a deposit that posts and a deposit that sits.

The Lockbox Inside, and a Hard Cap

Franklin has a visitor deposit lockbox like every other 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.

The $50 ceiling is the thing to plan around here. Franklin allows one visiting day a week, and families making a six hour journey from downstate come a few times a year at most. The $50 is the total for the day, however many of you come, so that is the ceiling for a trip.

Anyone relying on the lockbox alone is limited by how often they can get to Malone, which for most people is the wrong way to fund an account.

One more thing worth knowing: the lockbox is not processed at the prison. DOCCS forwards what goes in it to JPay, so it follows the same path and the same timing as a posted money order.

Never in the Letter

Money does not go in an envelope to P.O. Box 10.

Incoming mail at Franklin is opened and inspected specifically for cash, checks and money orders. Putting money in a letter does not speed anything up. It gets the money intercepted and it holds up the letter as well.

Two addresses, two systems: the letter goes to Malone, the money goes to Miami.

What the Balance Buys

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

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

What it no longer has to cover is the telephone. New York made calls from state prisons free to families on 1 August 2025, so a balance of zero does not mean silence.

Packages Are a Separate Budget

Money on the account and a package are two different decisions.

Packages come directly from an approved vendor and ship by USPS, FedEx or UPS. 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.

So funding commissary does not use up a package allowance, and ordering a package does not touch the account 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 against the building.

What a transfer does break is the letter address. If they move off Bare Hill Road, the deposit still lands and the envelope no longer does, so check the lookup before you post.

How to Send Money to Franklin, Step by Step

This is the free route, start to finish. Follow it in order and the money lands in the right account.

What you need

• Their full name, written last name first
• Their DIN, from the state inmate lookup
• The facility name: Franklin Correctional Facility
• A money order or check for up to $999.99, made out to JPay. JPay recommends a U.S. Postal money order.
• The JPay Money Order/Check Deposit Slip, which NYSDOCCS publishes here in English and Spanish
• Your own name and mailing address
• An envelope and a stamp

Method

1. Print the slip and fill in the bottom part in blue or black ink: the amount, their DIN, their name (last, first), the state (NY), and your name and address.
2. For the facility, write Franklin Correctional Facility in full. Upstate Correctional Facility sits on the same road in Malone, and a shortened name invites a mix-up.
3. Make the money order or check payable to JPay. You can also write their name and DIN on the memo line.
4. Put the money order and the slip in the envelope. Nothing else. Letters or notes sent with a payment are thrown away.
5. Mail it to: JPay, PO Box 531190, Miami, FL 33153.

Cost: free. Time: JPay processes it within 10 business days of receiving it, and a personal check is held for 10 days before it reaches the account.

Faster, for a fee

• Online or in the JPay app: pay by credit or debit card. Fees run $1.75 to $4.75 for deposits of $2 to $300.
• By phone: call JPay at 1-800-574-5729 with a credit card. Same fees.
• MoneyGram: pay cash at any MoneyGram location using Receive Code 1317. The fee is $4.

On a visit day

1. At visitor registration, fill in a deposit envelope (form 2703P) with their name and DIN.
2. Put the cash, money order or check inside. Cash is capped at $50 a day in total, however many visitors come. A money order or check also needs a JPay deposit slip.
3. Hand it to the officer. They check the details and seal the envelope into the locked box in front of you. There’s no fee.

Before you send: unpaid court surcharges or fees are taken out of money coming in first. Staff won’t give account balances over the phone, so ask them to check.

What Money Cannot Do

A funded account buys them coffee. It does not tell them anything.

At six hours from the city with one visiting day a week and no visitor bus, the letters are what carry the relationship. Pigeonly sends letters and photos to Franklin from your phone with P.O. Box 10 and the DIN already in place, which is the part of staying in touch that no deposit covers.