A. All correspondence addressed to inmates must be sent by U.S. Postal Service mail. Correspondence sent by other courier or delivery services will be refused.B. Always use the inmate's committed name and Pod housed in if known. Address the envelope as follows: Inmate's last name, first name-Pod Washington County Correctional Facility 100 West Cherry Ave. Washington, Pa. 15301 Example: Smith, John - 4-West Washington County Correctional Facility 100 West Cherry Ave. Washington, Pa. 15301
C. All routine mail sent to an inmate is opened, examined, and may be read by designated staff.
D. Inmates will be permitted to receive only the following types of materials through routine mail: 1. Written correspondence (no limit as to number of pages). Correspondence may be written on greeting cards, but cards containing electronic or other non-paper parts, cards which are constructed in such a way as to permit concealment of contraband, or which are larger than 8"x10" will not be permitted. Each page can be no larger than 8 1/2 x 14 inches in size; material can be on both sides of a page. Individual newspaper or magazine articles or clippings or clippings from other publications are permissible, up to a 5 page limit. No item can be glued, taped, stapled, or otherwise affixed to a page.
E. The following items are not permissible in or as an attachment to mail addressed to an inmate: 1. Non-paper items; 2. Items of a non-communicative nature such as lottery tickets or matchbooks; 3. Stickers or stamps (other than postage stamps, postal service attachments, and address labels affixed to the outside of the envelope); 4. Address labels (other than those affixed to the outside of the envelope); 5. Laminated cards or other laminated materials. 6. Nude photographs or photographs that reveal genitalia, buttocks, or the female breast will not be permitted. 7. Polaroid photographs will not be permitted.
F. Incoming mail shall be disapproved for mailing or delivery to an inmate if any part of it: 1. Depicts or describes procedures for the construction of or use of weapons, ammunitions, bombs, chemical agents, or incendiary devices; 2. Depicts, encourages, or describes methods of escape from correctional facilities or contains blueprints, drawings or similar descriptions of department of corrections, facilities or institutions, or includes road maps that can facilitate escape from correctional facilities; 3. Depicts or describes procedures for the brewing of alcoholic beverages, or the manufacture of drugs or other intoxicants; 4. Is written in code; 5. Depicts, describes, or encourages activities which may lead to the use of physical violence or group disruption; 6. Encourages or instructs in the commission of criminal activity; 7. Is dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot, insurrection, disruption of the institution, violation of Facility rules, the violation of which would present a serious threat to the security, order or rehabilitative objectives of the institution or the safety of any person; 8. Threatens physical harm, blackmail or extortion; 9. Pictorially depicts sexual conduct such as actual or simulated sexual intercourse; sexual bestiality; masturbation; sadomasochistic abuse; actual contact with a person's unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or, if such person is a female, breast; any act or conduct which constitutes sexual battery or simulates that sexual battery is being or will be committed. 10. Presents nudity or a lewd exhibition of the genitals in such a way as to create the appearance that sexual conduct is imminent, i.e., display of contact or intended contact with genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breasts orally, digitally or by foreign object, or display of sexual organs in an aroused state. 11. Contains criminal history, offender registration, or other personal information about another inmate or offender, which in the hands of an inmate, presents a threat to the security, order or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or to the safety of any person; 12. Contains or appears to contain unknown or unidentifiable substances; or 13. Otherwise presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system, or to the safety of any person.
G. When an inmate is transferred or released, mail addressed to the inmate at his old institution shall be treated as follows: 1. After the transfer or release, all first-class and second-class mail will be returned to the U.S. Postal Service for its disposition.
H. Inmates may not send mail to any person who has advised the warden that he does not wish to receive mail from the inmate. 1. The parents or legal guardians of a person under the age of 18 may advise that mail is not to be sent to such person. 2. Upon receipt of such advisement, the warden will cause to be prepared an acknowledgment specifying that the inmate will not be permitted to send mail to the person requesting the correspondence restriction and that such person should return any further mail received from the inmate and notify the warden of the attempt to correspond. 3. After the inmate is notified of the correspondence restriction, any further attempt to correspond will be considered a violation of rules and issued a misconduct.