Inmate email program begins

Inmates can’t send emails but they will soon be able to receive print copies on emails sent to them.

On Monday, a program called Email an Inmate begins.

For about a dollar an email, family members and friends will have the ability to correspond electronically with inmates through the Sheriff’s Department website: http://www.VCSD.org. Click on the “VCSD Jail – Inmate Information” icon, locate the inmate, then just click on the email and register your billing and contact information. The emails must be purchased in advance in groups of at at least 10 for $10 plus a $1.50 processing fee.

Each inmate may receive up to five emails per day, per sender.

Proceeds from the program will benefit the Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF) trust account. The IWF funds education, vocation, recreation and reentry programs for the inmates. There is no restriction on legal correspondence but each email must be less than a page, or about 4,500 characters.

Inmates are currently only allowed to receive postcards, magazines and books sent directly from the publisher.

They do not have access to the Internet to send messages back but they are allowed to send postcards, letters and cards through the U.S. mail.