Due to an increase in dangerous contraband coming into Minnesota Correctional Facilities through the mail, the Department of Corrections (DOC) is implementing a new mail delivery procedure to prioritize the security and well-being of everyone in our correctional facilities.
New Mail System: Effective November 1, 2024, the DOC will launch a system-wide mail management system through TextBehind®, a mail scanning and printing service used increasingly by state correctional systems and jails across the U.S.
Learn more about TextBehind® at the following website: https://textbehind.com/
Every mail envelope sent to an incarcerated person must contain the following information:
First Name / Last name, and OID
MCF-facility name, Minnesota (do not abbreviate Minnesota)
P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, MD 21131
Unacceptable mail: TextBehind does not accept legal mail, money orders, personal checks, gift cards or cash in the mail, and these items will be returned to the sender.
Magazine subscriptions and catalogues should be sent directly to facilities.
Books are allowed from approved vendors and nonprofit organizations and must be shipped directly from them to the facility. Books ordered from unapproved vendors or nonprofit organizations will be returned or disposed of according to DOC policy. Books should be sent to the facility address and not the TextBehind address.
As of March 20th, 2025, the following book vendors are approved for purchases:
You may also request book donations from the following approved nonprofit organizations:
Note: It is better to request genres of interest rather than specific titles, as inventories are constantly changing.
Send books to:
Name and OID# (Identification Number)
MCF- (facility name where incarcerated person is housed)
Facility Address
Please see the following memo for more information—Memo.
Consulte el siguiente memorando para obtener más información—Memo.
Attorney-client privileged mail sent to Minnesota DOC facilities without a verified QR code from TextBehind DOCS will be returned to sender. Learn more here.
New: The policy was further revised February 11, 2025, to require incoming attorney-client privileged mail to have the attorney’s name and terms such as “attorney at law” or “law offices” in the return address along with the QR code. Improperly addressed attorney-client mail will be returned to sender.
Un-allowed Mail: For safety and security purposes, the content of mail is regulated. Mail is denied that involves criminal activity; is identified as security threat group related; requests gifts or money from unrelated individuals, contain photos of staff, is coded material, contains unsanitary items such as hair, saliva, body secretions; certain sexually explicit situations including sexual intercourse, bodily excretory functions, sadism or bondage; personal photos displaying nudity by definition; and material advocating inferiority of an ethnic, racial or religious group.
Correspondence Review Authority: Each facility has a Correspondence Review Authority to review denied mail. Incarcerated individuals may appeal their denied mail by writing to the mailroom supervisor within ten working days of receipt of the Notice of Non-Delivery of Mail/Package and may submit one subsequent appeal to the facility’s Correspondence Review Authority within ten working days of the receipt of the mailroom supervisor’s decision.
Forwarding Mail: First class mail and subscriptions will be forwarded for 60 days. After 60 days, or if a forwarding address is unavailable, the item will be returned to the sender.
