Incoming / Outgoing Mail
While you are in custody, you will be allowed to send and receive mail that complies with U.S. Postal Service and facility regulations, policies, and procedures.
There will be no limitations set on the volume of lawful mail that an inmate may send or receive. However, there is a limitation on the amount of mail that may be kept since you are permitted to keep only the amount of personal property (including mail) that fits into the personal property container provided. Length, language, and content will not be restricted, except when there is reasonable suspicion to justify restrictions for reasons of public safety, facility order, and security. Gang related mail or photographs will not be accepted, and no outgoing mail with gang symbols or wording will be mailed.
Once a week, on a commissary day, indigent inmates will be offered a mail set that includes stamped envelopes and paper. No inmate will be denied the opportunity to send out special or legal mail due to an inability to pay for postage.
All incoming correspondence will be processed through the U.S. Postal Service. The mailing address to receive mail is:
(Inmates Name)
Blount County Adult Detention Center
920 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway
Maryville, TN 37804-5002
Incoming mail will be inspected to prevent the introduction of contraband and will be read for content. Incoming legal and special mail will be opened and inspected for contraband only in your presence, but will not be read. Incoming mail must have the senders complete name and address on the envelope or it will not be delivered to you.
You will be notified if your mail has been denied, and you have the right to have this decision reviewed by the Administrator, or his designee, upon written request from you.
Items considered contraband, and that will be rejected, include, but not necessarily limited to, the following:
| Personal checks or cash (only money orders may be received in the mail and deposited in your inmate account). |
| Stamps or stickers. |
| Stationery/envelopes. |
| Magazines and newspapers. |
| Greeting cards larger than 8 x10, or that are padded, musical, or laminated. |
| Non-paper material. |
| Food or clothing items. |
| Foreign and/or unidentifiable substances. |
| Items larger than 8x10. |
| Threats of physical harm against any person or threats of criminal activity. |
| Threats of blackmail or extortion. |
| Plans to escape, or material that depicts or describes blueprints or operational details of the facility or of any correctional facility. |
| Information that, if communicated, would create a risk of violence and/or physical harm to any person. |
| Obscene or sexually explicit material, nude or semi-nude photos. |
| Material that threatens or is detrimental to the good order or discipline of the facility. |
| Plans for activities in violation of facility rules, or for criminal activity. |
| Correspondence that is in code. |
| Gang-related material. |
| Inflammatory material or markings (advocating ridicule or scorn of any ethnic, racial, religious, or other group). |
| Any correspondence from any correctional facility, or from within the facility to another inmate in the facility, with the exception of correspondence to and from an inmate’s immediate family member (mother, father, or sibling). |
The facility discourages the practice of cash being sent in the mail due to the potential for theft. Please encourage your family, friends, or persons who might be mailing you funds that a money order is the best way to transmit funds by mail, and the only way that funds will be received in the facility. A money order must be written to the Blount County Adult Detention Center with your name included.
Any incoming mail containing controlled or unidentified substances, weapons, and/or information of criminal activity, will be placed into evidence and forwarded to the appropriate unit within the Sheriff’s Office, or to postal authorities for investigation.
INTRODUCING CONTRABAND INTO A CORRECTIONAL FACILITY (through the mail or by any other means) IS A FELONY. Such activity, or suspected activity, will be investigated for criminal prosecution.
Outgoing Mail
Inmates must have their name and address legible in the upper left hand comer of an envelope before it will be mailed. The addressee’s complete name and address must be legible and un-obscured in the center of the envelope, and must be in a standard or legal envelope. No homemade mailing containers will be allowed. Postage must be affixed in the front upper right corner of the envelope.
No contraband or food items will be mailed out. Envelopes will not be processed which contain drawings, cartoons, messages, symbols, etc., on the exterior surfaces of the mail. No outgoing mail will be opened or inspected unless appearance, condition, weight, or texture of the item(s) to be mailed present a reasonable suspicion of violation of law or facility rules and/or danger to public safety or facility security. |
