Corrlinks is such a way for family and friends to communicate electronically with their loved ones incarcerated in institutions. Corrlinks operates the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System (TRULINCS) as the email system which is used by the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons in allowing inmates to communicate with the outside world.
TRULINCS here is a fee-based system where inmates should pay in order to send or receive email. This service provides direct email access to federal inmates, unlike most commercial sites that allow correspondents to send an email which is printed and mailed to an inmate.
However, many inmates, family and friends are wondering whether their message/ email is monitored or not. This invites questions as the email is received directly by the inmate without going through the screening first. So, to know the true fact, let’s see our post below!
Are Inmate’s Messages/Emails Monitored?
Of course, as the institution which houses an inmate, they may monitor any or all messages/emails for any or all inmates. In this case, the CorrLinks staff may not monitor your messages, but the team probably has to help the institution in such monitoring from time to time.
The institution will determine its need for monitoring letters, messages and other communication. However, not all inmates have Corrlinks access. Inmates here may be barred from using this service if their particular crimes involve the use of a computer in any manner.
Sure, this system does not allow inmates access to the internet and all incoming and outgoing messages will be monitored. Emails will be limited to 13,000 characters and no attachments are allowed, it’s because the attachments will be removed which sometimes corrupts the rest of the message.
Why are your messages monitored? That’s because there’s little chance that the content of the message will endanger the public or the safety, security or order of operation of the prison. So, the institution staff have the final authority for delivery of any and all messages and may review, hold, or reject the message just like any other package or letter entering the institution.
Is There a Charge to Send or Receive an Email?
Sure, the TRULINCS is a fee-based system where inmates should pay for sending or receiving an email. They should pay about $0.05 per minute for use of this computer system. If they want to print the message, it will cost approximately $0.15 per page.
If they send an email to someone, it can cost up to $0.30. As a comparison, in a lot of U.S federal prisons, inmates wages start at $0.12 per hour. With these wages, of course, you can at least cover the costs of sending and receiving messages from loved ones from home.
Moreover, the charges for using the site are based upon agreements with Correctional agencies. Need to know that, the ‘CorrLinks’ site does not charge the public for messages from/to inmates residing at facilities which are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons or CoreCivic (CCA).
In this case, the charge for messages from/to inmates which reside at facilities operated by State DOC including Massachusetts, Iowa, Nevada Wisconsin, and Oklahoma as well as the ICE facilities (Farmville) is per the rates which are approved by the respective agency.
How to Send Email to Inmates With CorrLinks?
In order to send email to inmates with CorrLinks, make sure that you’ve created a CorrLinks account first. Once you successfully registered into CorrLinks, sure, you’re able to send email to your loved one in prison.
Here’s how to send email to inmates with CorrLinks!
- At the CorrLinks account page, you should select on the ‘Mailbox’.
- By doing it, there will be a page with icons of new messages, inbox and draft message.
- To send email, you should select on the ‘New Message’ option.
- Then, you will get a page on your screen with To, Subject, and Message categories.
- After that, select on the ‘To’ box to choose an inmate you want to send a message to.
- Once choosing an inmate, you can then select on the ‘Ok’ button.
- Compose a message and then select on the ‘Send’ button to deliver it to your loved one in prison.
Congratulations! You successfully send a message/ email to an inmate in prison. Well, you should keep in mind that you should wait for a day or two to compose a message if you get the notification of ‘Pending Approval’.
How to Use CorrLinks to Stay Connected with Inmates?
CorrLinks seemingly bridges inmates and people outside to stay-connected. This computer system helps federal prisoners to provide a bunch of services to send and receive emails to their loved ones in prison. Sure, their messages will closely be monitored, so, there’s no direct access between the inmates and their families or friends outside.
In this case, people who communicate with the inmates from outside do not pay, but inmates will be required to pay the use CorrLinks to connect to their families. So, how to use the CorrLinks? Of course, to use the CorrLinks, you should register first by following the steps below!
- To use the CorrLinks, access the CorrLinks site here.
- Once accessing this page, you will be taken into the email and password page where you should enter your name, email address and your password.
- You will then receive an email/invitation with inmate identification code. After all the categories from name until the identification codes are filled, you’re good to go.
- Here, you should use the same email for CorrLinks where you obtained the email of identification code or else the system won’t work.
- Once registering once, you will only be required to use your email address and password to access your CorrLinks account.
- Well, the Inmate Identification Code here is what you will have to compose an email for an inmate. After you get the inmate Identification Code, you’re able to add that particular inmate with you.
- This commonly depends on the operating staff when they will eventually deliver your email to an inmate once checking it thoroughly.
- Here, you should select on the option of ‘Enable Email Alert’ to avoid checking CorrLink daily to see whether an inmate has sent you an email or not. By choosing this option, you will automatically be notified of any received email.
- Then, you will receive a verification email from Web@CorrLinks.com and there will be a link to sign up verification link. So, you should select on the link to go further.
- After that, you will be taken into the Sign Up page where you are required to fill in your details.
- Last, select on the ‘Next’, to take you into your CorrLinks account page.