Mail & Packages in Vermont (DOC)

How Mail Works

Vermont has not switched to mail scanning: incoming general mail is opened and inspected for contraband outside the person’s presence, but the original letter is delivered, and staff don’t read it absent reasonable suspicion. There is no limit on how much mail someone can receive, within the property limits a person is allowed to keep.

The May 2026 change families need to know: photographs mailed in are now photocopied, with the originals going through DOC’s disposal process — don’t count on getting them back. Original prints can reach the person only as a vendor order (the approved list includes FreePrints and Shutterfly), shipped direct with an invoice after the person gets an outside-purchase request approved. Send copies of photos, never originals.

Addressing Mail

Mail goes to the person by name and ID number at their facility’s address — the ID number shows in the Offender Locator linked from doc.vermont.gov:

• Chittenden Regional (women) — 7 Farrell Street, South Burlington, VT 05403
• Marble Valley Regional — 167 State Street, Rutland, VT 05701
• Northeast Correctional Complex — 1266-1270 US Route 5, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
• Northern State — 2559 Glen Road, Newport, VT 05855
• Northwest State — 3649 Lower Newton Road, Swanton, VT 05488 (the mailing address uses Swanton)
• Southern State — 700 Charlestown Road, Springfield, VT 05156

A complete return address is required — mail without one is refused, as is postage-due mail. Mail is forwarded between facilities on a transfer and for 60 days after release. For someone at the Mississippi contract facility, mail goes to them by committed name and number at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, 19351 US Highway 49N, Tutwiler, MS 38963.

What Gets Mail Rejected

The published limits:

• No cash or personal checks — money moves only through the deposit system in Sending Money, and cash mailed in is returned
• No nude or sexually explicit photos, and no Polaroid-type photos
• No battery-operated greeting cards, nothing glued to artwork, and decorative stickers are treated as contraband (stamps and sticker seals are removed before delivery)
• No enclosed blank envelopes, paper, or stamps
• No maps of the facility or surrounding area, no coded writing, no gang material

Rejections come with a written notice. The “negative contact list” runs the other direction: anyone who does not want to receive mail from an incarcerated person can ask DOC in writing to be placed on it, which bars the person from writing to them.

Books, Magazines, and Newspapers

Publications come only from publishers or commercial distributors — nothing forwarded from home — and must be prepaid, never C.O.D. or bill-me-later. Softcover only; hardcovers are prohibited (the policy’s narrow exception is educational texts). Content disapprovals are reviewable and appealable, and the policy bars rejecting a publication solely for religious, political, or unpopular content.

Packages

There are no general packages from home. The published channels: the Access Securepak package program (Vermont Package Programs), and the approved outside-vendor list — religious suppliers, booksellers, shoe and craft vendors, and the photo services — which requires the incarcerated person’s outside-purchase request to be approved before anything is ordered. Unapproved orders are returned at the person’s expense.

Legal Mail

Privileged mail — attorneys, courts, government officials, and legal organizations including the Prisoners’ Rights Office and Disability Rights Vermont — is opened only in the person’s presence, and must arrive in official envelopes with a verifiable return address.

For People Without Money

Vermont’s published floor applies to everyone, not just the indigent: postage for the equivalent of seven first-class letters every week. People whose accounts have stayed at $10 or less for 30 days also receive envelopes, paper, and a pen, plus reasonable postage for court filings.

Verify Before Acting

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