Mail & Packages in Louisiana (DPS&C)

Addressing Mail

Mail to a state prison must carry the person’s full name and DPS&C (“DOC”) number and the facility’s mailing address, with a complete return address. If you do not have the DOC number, look it up on the VINELink locator or call (225) 383-4580. The main mailing addresses for the prisons covered here:

• Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola): Name, DOC #, 17544 Tunica Trace, Angola, LA 70712
• Elayn Hunt Correctional Center: Name, DOC #, 6925 Highway 74, St. Gabriel, LA 70776
• Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women: Name, DOC #, 6923 Highway 74, St. Gabriel, LA 70776
• Dixon Correctional Institute: Name, DOC #, P.O. Box 788, Jackson, LA 70748

The other state prisons have their own addresses on DPS&C’s facility-locations page. If the person is in a parish jail, none of these apply — see below.

What Can Be Sent

From a family member, the rule at state prisons is letters only. DPS&C does not accept packages, publications, greeting cards, or postcards sent directly by families. Three items are specifically rejected if mailed: cash (which is confiscated), postage stamps, and photographs with a hard backing. Photos are otherwise allowed but cannot be sexually explicit or nude, and laminated or hard-backed photos that could conceal something may be rejected.

There is no limit on the number or length of letters a person may send or receive at their own expense, and mail is generally not held more than 48 hours. An indigent person is given postage for two personal letters a week.

Books and Magazines

Books, magazines, and other publications must come directly from a publisher or bookstore — not from a family member. Newspaper and magazine clippings and printed-out internet articles are an exception and may be enclosed in a regular letter, up to five per letter. Publications are screened, and sexually explicit titles are rejected.

Packages

Care packages go through the state’s Canteen Package Program, run by Prison Enterprises with the Keefe Group — ordered at louisianapackages.com or by phone at 1-800-546-6283, in seasonal ordering windows, with a published limit of $20 minimum and $200 maximum per person. Packages cannot be mailed in any other way. (An earlier vendor, Union Supply Direct, no longer runs the Louisiana program.)

Legal Mail

Mail to and from courts, attorneys, and public officials is privileged. Incoming privileged mail is opened and inspected for contraband in the person’s presence but not read; outgoing privileged mail may be sealed. Legal material sent on a CD is handled specially — the person can pay for paper copies or have the disc returned to the sender.

If Mail Is Rejected

When mail or a publication is rejected, the sender and the recipient are notified in writing within three working days, and the decision can be appealed through the Administrative Remedy Procedure — the same grievance process described in Medical & Mental Health.

Parish Jails Are Different

Most people serving a Louisiana state sentence are held in parish jails, and a sheriff sets that jail’s mail rules — which often differ sharply from the state system. Many Louisiana parish jails digitize incoming mail: instead of the jail’s address, mail goes to an out-of-state processing center that scans the letter and delivers a copy, with the original never reaching the person. One Baton Rouge–area jail, for example, routes general mail to a P.O. box in Maryland. The state prisons do not do this — they deliver physical mail — but a family with someone in a parish jail should confirm that jail’s mailing address and rules before sending anything, because a letter sent to the jail’s street address may be returned.

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Staying in Touch.