Mail Delivery

6.2 - Mail Rejection

TextBehind does not approve, redact, moderate or reject any content in your communication(s). This authority remains with the controlling correctional institution staff only. 

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Mail Rejection Appeal Procedure by the NCDPS Institutions (North Carolina Department of Public Safety and Adult Corrections)

Correspondence rejections may be appealed by writing the Warden at the facility where the correspondence was rejected. All appeals need to be mailed directly to the facility within ten business days from the date of the rejection. Please include your name, offenders name, offender's OPUS number and the date of the rejection on the appeal letter.

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It is important to understand that every correctional institution is regulated by a certain set of internal rules (for mail review and distribution) at their end that is subject to change at any time without notice. There are no exceptions to the rule that we are aware of. All non-privileged inmate mail (general mail from family and friends) is subject to review and approval by the prison mailroom staff before it is given to the inmate. TextBehind® Service cannot deliver any letter to the inmates directly. 

Delivery of your letter to the inmate depends on the courier and then the prison mailroom staff. TextBehind® service does not control or influence postal service or prison mailroom staff in their standard process and timeframe. However, we strongly recommend that you should NOT create or add any of the following types of content to your letter.

PLEASE NOTE:
This list is compiled based on our understanding over the years and should not be deemed complete or representative of any law or regulation. It is compiled only to educate our users to encourage clean communication that is considered more compliant to the known rules followed by prisons in general. This list is updated over time as we learn more about additional types of unacceptable content.

Content types that will most likely cause your letter to be rejected (in part or entirely):

1. Nudity / Sexually explicit photos.
2. Showing weapons in photos.
3. Tattoo artwork, fantasy clipart, or social media posts.
4. SRG - gang-related signs, hand gestures, or symbols. 
5. Threats and violence-related content.
6. Substance abuse, alcohol, or smoking.
7. Illegal activities.
8. Stacks of cash.
9. Text contents containing threats, gang affiliation, illegal activity, or credit card numbers.
10. Photos of the inside of a prison, building plans, or route plans.
11. Newspaper articles, book chapters, coloring book pages, or sudoku puzzles.
12. Betting or sports charts.
13. Inmate to inmate correspondence.

Additional reasons that may cause your letter to be delayed or undelivered:

1. Your loved one's institution is not correct or updated. It is your responsibility to update the inmate's institution periodically. [1] 
2. If the institution is accepting basic 6" x 4" postcards and rejects all standard mail.
3. If the institution is accepting electronic email messages to the kiosks and tablets only.
4. If the institution is under lockdown.
5. If your loved one is under disciplinary segregation.
6. If your loved one is not permitted to receive mail from you or for any other reason.
7. If your loved one was temporarily out of the facility at the time of mail distribution.
8. If your inmate is no longer in custody at that institution where mail was originally sent to.
9. The USPS lost the letter during transit.
10. The prison institution's staff misplaced the letter after receiving it.

[1] TextBehind system is connected with most of our contracted facility databases where inmate roster information is sent to us electronically once per day. However, this information may not always be reliable. Clerical mistakes can occur. On the other hand, the TextBehind system is NOT connected with any of the non-contracted facility databases which means, we cannot know the inmate's custody or transfer status. Our automated system will process and ship your letters based entirely on the information in your account. If your letter was shipped to an institution where your loved one is no longer located, that will not be reversible and TextBehind will not be held responsible for shipping a letter to an incorrect institution due to that reason. 

Therefore you are advised to either update inmate's information from MY CONTACTS >> More Options >> Update Contact OR notify TextBehind to update your loved one's information. You should create any new letters for such inmates only AFTER the information is updated.