iEditorial Note: These blog posts represent the opinion of DoNotPay’s Writers, but each person’s situation and circ*mstances vary greatly. As a result, you should make sure to do your own independent research. Because everyone is unique, our self-help tools are never guaranteed to help with any specific situation. DoNotPay is not a law firm and is not licensed to practice law. DoNotPay provides a platform for legal information and self-help.
Inmates in correctional facilities are not left with many options to stay in touch with the outside world. Writing letters to inmates, sending them packages, and inmate visitation is only available ever so often. Sending iCare Packages is an approved way of delivering different goodies and necessities to inmates, and you can use the service to pleasantly surprise the inmate you care about.
What You Should Know About iCare Inmate Packages Before Sending One
If you want to send a care package to an incarcerated person, you can use iCare. It already has pre-made and approved packages for inmates, and you only need to choose one on the website.
iCare offers packages for different occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, so you can find something suitable for that particular event. You can also send food packages to your loved one if the correctional facility allows it.
Take a look at some of iCare’s most popular packages to get an idea of what to send to an inmate:
| iCare Inmate Package | Pricing | What the Inmate Gets |
| Miss You | $36.99 |
|
| Write Me Up | $10.49 |
|
| Women’s Hygiene | $36.99 |
|
You should always search the website of the inmate’s correctional facility to check if these products are allowed. If you can’t find info on your own, make sure to contact the jail staff over the phone or send them an email.
How Does Sending iCare Inmate Packages Work?
If you decide to surprise your incarcerated loved one by sending them an iCare inmate package, you must follow certain instructions. This is what you’ll need to do:
- Visit the iCare website
- Create an account or continue as a guest user
- Choose one of the inmate packages and add it to your cart
- Submit your order
- Wait for a confirmation email
The package should be delivered within 30 days, and you will get a delivery confirmation email. You can check the order status of the package on iCare’s website.
General Rules for Sending Items to Inmates
Each correctional facility has its own set of rules and regulations about mailing items to prisoners, but some objects are strictly forbidden everywhere due to safety reasons. Make sure you don’t send anything from the following list:
- Keys
- Maps
- Jewelry
- Nail clippers
- Paint
- Cash
- Credit cards
- Cigarettes
- Gang-related material
- Sexually explicit material
- Batteries
- Aerosol cans
If you avoid adding any of the mentioned items to the package, the inmate should receive the mail without problems. The upside of sending pre-approved packages is that all items are allowed, so there’s no room for mistakes.
What Happens if You Send Something You Are Not Supposed To?
There are a few possible scenarios if you send something that is not allowed. Jail staff has the right to return the items to you or confiscate it. The inmate can get the confiscated items once they are released from prison.
If you sent something that is a bigger threat to anyone in the facility, the jail staff can keep it as evidence in a criminal investigation against you and the prisoner, or they can destroy it.
In accordance with the violation of the rules you’ve made in sending items to a prisoner, the consequences can be harsh. The prison authorities may even forbid you ever to contact that inmate again.
DoNotPay Helps You Stay in Contact With Inmates
In certain cases, one may not be aware of where a particular person is serving their sentence, so step one would be to locate someone. Sending packages is great, but written communication is equally important.
DoNotPay makes connecting with incarcerated persons as easy as it gets. Our feature Connect With an Inmate offers you three different ways of keeping your bond strong during these difficult times. This is what we offer:
- Send a personalized letter to an inmate
- Use our Virtual Mailbox to receive letters from inmates
- Locate an inmate without trouble
Send Words of Comfort to an Inmate With DoNotPay’s Help
DoNotPay can help you send a letter to an inmate and keep in touch with them without trouble. We’ve made sure writing to a prisoner is a simple task that can be done in minutes. This is what you’ll need to do:
- Open DoNotPay in your
- Find and select the Send a Personalized Letter feature
- Enter the prisoner’s name and ID number
- Compose your message
- Add photos to the letter if you wish
- Choose a customized template for your letter
DoNotPay will make a hard copy of your letter and mail it to the prisoner on your behalf. This means we’ll be the ones addressing the letter to the inmate, and you won’t have to trouble yourself with that part.
Get Mail From Inmates With DoNotPay’s Help
If the inmate wants to reply to your letter and inform you of their current situation, they can do so with DoNotPay’s help. Stay up-to-date with your loved one’s feelings and news in a few easy steps:
- The inmate writes the letter
- They send it to a specific address
- We make a digital copy of the letter
- We send the letter in such form to you
You can use DoNotPay’s Virtual Mailbox feature to check for the response from your prison pen pal.
Find an Inmate’s Location With DoNotPay
If you are not certain what facility a certain inmate is located in, DoNotPay can help you find them in the blink of an eye. You don’t even have to know their ID or the unit number for the search to be successful. This is what you’ll need to do:
- Access the DoNotPay prison feature
- Enter the prisoner’s first and last name
- Write the name of the state they are being held in
With the information you provided, we can tell you the address of the prison your incarcerated friend or family member is being held in, so you can write to them, send iCare packages, or visit them.
Use DoNotPay To Tackle Other Administrative Issues
DoNotPay can tell you how to find and meet an inmate. If you are wondering when inmates receive mail, we can provide you with an answer. Once you have that info, you can learn more about sending books to inmates to surprise your loved one with a useful gift to pass the time more quickly. If you’d like to get some creative mail ideas for inmates, you can also turn to DoNotPay for advice.
Perhaps you’d like to make a federal inmate phone call but are not sure about the rules regarding the process? Our app can show you the right way to do it.
Open DoNotPay in your to learn about other problems we can help you with:
- Disputing traffic tickets
- Finding unclaimed money under your name
- Trying new services without phone verification
- Dealing with bills you are unable to pay
- Getting refunds and chargebacks from various companies
- Keeping yourself and your loved ones safe from stalking and harassment
- Keeping your work safe from copyright infringement
- Contesting parking tickets
- Dealing with credit card issues
- Getting back at robocalls
- Skipping the phone queue when getting in touch with customer service reps
- Getting refunds and compensation for delayed or canceled flights
- Fighting speeding tickets
- Terminating memberships and subscriptions for good
- Blocking text spam for good
- Applying for free trials risk-free
- Blocking spam mail forever
- Suing companies and people in small claims court
- Finding clinical trials in no time
- Keeping in touch with your incarcerated loved ones
- Getting a DMV appointment scheduled in no time
