Mail & Photos to Kershaw Correctional Institution

How to Address a Letter

Put your full name and complete return address, including city, state, and zip code, in the upper-left corner of the envelope. In the center of the envelope, write:

[Inmate's Legal Name]
[SCDC Number], [Living/Dorm Unit]
Kershaw Correctional Institution
4848 Gold Mine Highway
Kershaw, SC 29067

If you don’t know the person’s SCDC number or living unit, look them up using the SCDC inmate search. Click their name to open the Inmate Search Detail Report, then check the right-hand column for the SCDC ID and dorm-room-bunk assignment.

What Happens to Your Letter

All mail is opened and inspected by postal staff before it’s delivered. Staff aren’t reading personal letters unless there’s a specific reason to believe illegal activity or a rules violation is involved. Legal mail is handled differently: it’s opened and inspected in the inmate’s presence, not beforehand.

If mail looks questionable for any reason, gang-related content, sexually explicit material, references to drugs or weapons, it can be delayed for investigation or returned to you. Give it about two weeks to process through the mailroom before assuming something went wrong.

Photos

You can send up to 10 photos per envelope. If you send more than 10, the inmate has to choose which 10 to keep; the rest go to contraband or get discarded. One important exception: inmates housed in Restricted Housing (RHU) or currently at Reception and Evaluation cannot receive any photos at all, regardless of how many you send.

Clippings and Printouts

Newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, crossword puzzle pages, and printed material from the internet (other than SCDC’s own website) are allowed up to 5 pages per envelope, as long as the content isn’t questionable.

Books and Magazines

Effective Oct. 1, 2025, SCDC only accepts publications sent directly from one of five approved vendors:

• Hamilton Book
• Books N Things Warehouse
• Books2Inmates
• SureShot Books Publishing, LLC
• Barnes & Noble (online orders only)
• Books-A-Million (online orders only)

Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million purchases only count if bought online; anything bought in-store and mailed in, even from those same retailers, gets rejected and destroyed. Books from any other source or vendor are rejected outright, with no option for the inmate to return them to you for a refund, they go straight to contraband disposal.

Every book needs a legitimate invoice or receipt on business letterhead showing it was paid for in advance. Only paperback books are allowed; hardbacks are prohibited regardless of vendor. Even books from the approved list can still be rejected for content under SCDC Policy PS-10.08.

Magazines and other subscription publications don’t have to come from the five approved vendors, but they must be paid for in advance and shipped directly from a verified online subscription source, not forwarded by a friend or family member.

Inmates in intake status or restricted housing cannot receive any publications, including newspapers and magazines, regardless of vendor.

What’s Never Allowed Through the Mail

Cash, stamps, writing materials, food, drinks, and tobacco cannot be mailed to an inmate under any circumstance. If you want to send money, use one of the approved Cooper Trust Fund deposit methods instead, not the mail.

Care Packages Are Different From Letters

Physical care packages (food, hygiene items, clothing during approved windows) don’t go through regular mail. They’re ordered through Access Securepak, SCDC’s approved package vendor, during scheduled ordering windows. See the Send Money guide for how packages work and their spending limits.

If a Letter Doesn’t Arrive

SCDC’s mailroom processes mail daily for roughly 26,000 inmates statewide. Delays happen most often when content looks questionable and gets pulled for investigation. Give it two weeks before assuming it’s lost. If it’s been longer, call Kershaw directly at (803) 896-3300.

Send Photos and Letters with Pigeonly

The easiest way to send photos and letters to someone at Kershaw Correctional Institution is through Pigeonly. Upload your photos or write your letter online, and Pigeonly prints and mails everything to the facility for you, following the mail rules listed above.