Mail and Photos at the Suzanne Kays Facility

The Address for Letters

[Full Legal Name, Book-in Number]
c/o Mail Processing Center
PO Box 9226
Seminole, FL 33775-9226

Mail sent to any other address is returned to sender. The envelope must carry the person’s name, their book-in number, and your return address.

Scanned, Then Destroyed

The processing center opens and scans the mail, and the images are delivered to the person’s tablet. The paper does not follow.

The handbook’s wording is worth quoting in substance because families find it out too late: sending mail to that address means you agree to the items being destroyed, and nothing is returned or reimbursed. Photographs are named explicitly.

So a child’s first drawing, an original photograph, a card someone signed at a family gathering, all of them are scanned and thrown away. Send copies, and keep the originals.

The Formatting Rules That Get Mail Rejected

Two rules do most of the rejecting, and both are about the paper rather than the content.

Only 8.5 by 11 inch mail is accepted. Smaller notepaper, larger sheets, and folded card stock fall outside it.

Single-sided only. Anything written on the back is not scanned, and the item is returned to sender. If your letter runs long, use a second sheet rather than turning the page over.

Greeting cards are a genuine conflict between two official county sources. The handbook bars greeting cards outright. The inmate mail page is narrower, barring unsigned cards, cards over 8x10, and cards with padding, music, metal, plastic, string, ribbon, confetti, glitter or lamination. The handbook is the more recent and controlling document, so treat cards as not accepted.

Photos

Maximum size 8x10. Polaroids are accepted only if the sender removes the chemical backing first, since the mailroom will not do it.

Prohibited content: obscene, violent, pornographic or sexually enticing images, nudity, exposed buttocks or female breasts, and firearms or drugs whether legal or illegal.

No Physical Books

Dallas County does not accept physical books. Reading material is purchased electronically to the tablet instead.

There is one narrow exception. Housing areas without tablet access may receive paperbacks, magazines or newspapers from a publisher or approved bookstore. No hardbacks in any case. All reading material is distributed through Inmate Programs.

The Long Prohibited List

Beyond the above: glue, paperclips, staples, magnets, stickers, tape, plastic, wood, cloth, glass, ribbon, liquids, metal, cardboard and electronics. Stamps, blank paper, envelopes, pens and pencils. Bus passes, bookmarks, phone and calling cards. Catalogs, advertisements, brochures and sweepstakes. ID cards, driver’s licences, birth certificates and marriage licences. Rosaries, jewellery and eyeglasses. Tobacco, food, perishables and clothing.

Also refused: anything written in crayon, marker or coloured pencil, anything with stains or unidentifiable marks, and profanity on the envelope.

Cash, checks and money orders sent in the mail are not scanned at all. The whole letter is returned to sender.

Legal Mail Goes Somewhere Else

Attorney correspondence goes to PO Box 660334, Dallas, TX 75266. The county’s inmate mail page states that mail sent to the Seminole box will not be confidential, and it encourages attorneys to use smartinmate.com instead.

The same Dallas PO Box takes government checks, voter registration material and ballots.

Legal mail is opened in the person’s presence rather than read in the mailroom.

Mail After Release, and Between Inmates

Mail for someone who has been released is returned to sender, or sent to the postal service dead letter office. It is not forwarded, which is a good reason to always put a return address on the envelope.

Inmate-to-inmate mail within the facility is prohibited except by written request to the mailroom, approved by the Jail Administrator, either for immediate family or people who share a child, or for co-parties representing themselves in active litigation.

Getting a Letter There Without the Formatting Trap

Pigeonly lets you send letters and photos from your phone, printed and mailed to the facility under that jail’s mail rules, with no printer, envelopes or stamps at your end.

It goes to the same Seminole processing center and is scanned the same way, so the destroy-after-scanning rule still applies. What it handles for you is the formatting: the 8.5 by 11 paper, the single-sided requirement, and the photo size limits that account for most rejected mail here.