Sending Money in Maine (Maine DOC)

The Two Accounts

By Maine law, money held for an incarcerated person sits in one of two accounts: a general (trust) account, which pays for canteen purchases, co-pays, and other costs, and a separate telephone account, which funds calls. Money from any source goes into one of the two. The statute also prohibits billing an indigent person for future services or medications, and unused phone funds are returned to the general account on release.

The Official Deposit Portal

Maine DOC’s online Money Deposit Service, run through the state’s e-government partner InforME, takes deposits to both the general (trust) account and the phone account by Visa or MasterCard. To deposit, you need the resident’s MDOC number and date of birth. The published rules:

• Limits: $100 per day and $200 per week to each account
• If you fund both accounts, it must be done in a single transaction
• Deposited funds are available in about three business days
• Deposits are non-refundable

The phone account can also be funded through the phone vendor’s prepaid service — see Phone & Video Calls.

Deposits by Mail

A money order or check can be mailed to the resident at the facility, with the person’s full name and MDOC number and the sender’s name and address included. Cash cannot be mailed. The exact payee format is not published on a single official page, so confirm it with the facility before sending. The resident’s record of deposits is a monthly account statement; on a transfer, funds move with the person, and on release, phone-account funds are mailed to the resident.

Court Money Is Separate

Money owed to the courts — restitution, fees, and fines — does not go to the resident account; Maine DOC runs a separate online payment portal for it. In addition, when a resident has obligations, set percentages of new funds and of work pay are applied to restitution and to a required personal savings account before the rest reaches canteen spending; the department keeps the exact percentages in policy rather than publishing them. Mailing a restitution payment to the prison, or a personal deposit to the court channel, adds delay.

Account Caps and Commissary

Maine publishes the deposit caps above but no statewide maximum balance for the trust account. What a resident can spend at the canteen is capped by their privilege level, with published weekly limits that rise with level. The canteen is a contracted service ordered against the resident’s account.

Separately, families can send food and hygiene packages through Access Securepak, ordered with the resident’s MDOC number, with a published limit of one package of up to about $50 in product per resident per week. Packages cannot be sent any other way — see Mail & Packages.

Confirming a Deposit

Maine publishes no sender-facing confirmation for a deposit. An electronic deposit posts in about three business days; the resident’s monthly account statement is the official record. The practical confirmation is the person seeing the funds on their end.

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Sending Money.