Sending Money in Wyoming (WDOC)

The Visitor-List Requirement

Before anything else: WDOC’s published deposit instruction states that to put money on a Wyoming inmate’s account, you must be on that person’s approved visitor list. Wyoming ties deposits and visiting together. If you have not gone through the visitor application described in Visiting in Wyoming, arrange that first — the deposit channels check against the same list.

How Deposits Work

Wyoming’s contracted deposit vendor is Access Corrections. You need the person’s name and WDOC number, which shows in the Wyoming Offender Locator.

• Online at accesscorrections.com — fee posted as “as low as $2.95”; MasterCard and Visa debit or credit cards accepted
• By phone at 1-866-345-1884 — fee posted as “as low as $3.95”
• Walk-in at Ace Cash Express and ACH Payment Solutions locations — $5.95 flat fee

The “as low as” phrasing is WDOC’s own — the exact fee shows during the transaction, and WDOC’s page is undated, so confirm the current fee when depositing.

Mailing a Money Order

Outside of the electronic options, the published mail policy accepts only a cashier’s check or money order — from the person’s immediate family, someone on their active approved visiting list, or a sender the facility head has approved. The rules that get mailed funds returned unprocessed:

• Cash and personal checks are not accepted — they go back to the sender
• The money order must be completely filled out, including the sender’s name and address
• Money orders under $1.00 are not processed

Government, business, tax-refund, attorney-settlement, estate, and retirement-account checks can be deposited but may be held for authentication. Mail the money order to the person at their facility’s mailing address — the addressing rules in Mail & Packages apply.

One published rule worth knowing in advance: WDOC staff do not tell depositors whether a deposit posted. The policy makes the incarcerated person responsible for confirming receipt — so expect the confirmation to come from them, not the facility.

What Gets Deducted

Money in the account is not always money available to spend. Wyoming’s published disbursement policy sets an order of deductions from prison wages: taxes, then 10 percent into mandatory savings (until a $1,000 balance, paid out at parole or discharge), then up to half toward court-ordered child support, then a monthly allotment of up to $25 reserved for the person’s own necessities and fees, then court-ordered obligations like restitution and fines, disciplinary fines, and institutional debts.

For money sent from outside, the published rule is narrower but real: gifts and outside deposits are not taken for restitution or child support unless the person consents or a court orders it — but institutional indebtedness (owed postage, supplies, disciplinary restitution) can be collected from money received from any source, up to 100 percent of what is not otherwise obligated. A person with built-up institutional debt may see a deposit largely absorbed by it. The policy requires written notice to the person before administratively imposed charges, and deductions can be challenged through the grievance process.

Under the published definition, a person is indigent only if they have no income and no money on account — $25 or more credited in a month, from any source, ends indigent status for that month and the indigent postage and supply allowances that come with it.

Commissary

Wyoming runs its own commissary — no outside commissary company. The published rules:

• Spending limit: $100 per week, with designated specialty items exempt; lower limits can apply in special housing
• Basic hygiene items, postage, and over-the-counter medications carry no markup; other goods carry a published 20 or 30 percent markup, and Wyoming sales tax is added to every item
• Ordering schedules are set facility by facility, and commissaries close for a full inventory at the end of June each year, with another pause for repricing after the state’s annual supply bid turns over

There is no published vendor package program — packages from family or friends are prohibited by the mail policy. Property reaches the person through commissary, through inmate-initiated special orders from facility-approved catalogs, or, with a physician’s approval, medically required items.

Verify Before Acting

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