Mail and Photos at Greene Correctional Facility

How to Address It

John Smith, 12A3456
Greene Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 975
Coxsackie, NY 12051-0975

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.

The Line NYSDOCCS Prints

165 Plank Road P.O. Box 8 (Incarcerated Individual Mail: P.O. Box 975, Zip 12051-0975) Coxsackie, NY 12051-0008

P.O. Box 8 with ZIP 12051-0008 is the prison’s own post. P.O. Box 975 with ZIP 12051-0975 is what reaches a person in custody. Both the box and the last four ZIP digits change, and the family pair is the one inside the bracket.

Write 975 and 12051-0975 together, as a single unit.

Two Prisons, Two Family Boxes, 24 Apart

The village of Coxsackie holds two New York state prisons, and both publish the same two-box pattern.

	Greene	Coxsackie
Security	Medium	Maximum
Street	165 Plank Road	11260 Route 9W
Box on the address line	P.O. Box 8	P.O. Box 200
Family box	P.O. Box 975	P.O. Box 999
Family ZIP	12051-0975	12051-0999

The two family boxes are both three-digit numbers in the 900s, only 24 apart, with ZIPs that follow them. A slip between 975 and 999 sends a letter to the wrong prison entirely, and nobody walks it across the village.

The names make it harder. The prison called Greene is in Coxsackie, and the prison called Coxsackie is in Greene County. Check the facility name on the lookup, then check the box.

What the Envelope Needs

• Full name and DIN on the first line
• P.O. Box 975, then Coxsackie, NY 12051-0975
• 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 Greene 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 Greene 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.

On the Weekends That Are Not Yours

Greene splits weekends and holidays alike by DIN, so roughly half the calendar belongs to the other group. The post covers the rest.

Pigeonly prints and sends letters and photos to Greene with P.O. Box 975, the matching ZIP and the DIN already in place, so the four nearby numbers in Coxsackie are handled before the envelope goes out.