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I knew you were going to say some variant of that!
The truth is, I had four articles written for Suspense & Decision 20. Two of them have already been posted (the PBM Index and the Research Column). I have two more written and queued up, one to be posted this week and another next week. My goal would be to post one article a week if I can keep up the pace. We shall see. I think I can?
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(03-08-2021, 12:20 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: Also, for the prison PBM population, what do you think about a simple newsletter? I know that there are limits on how many pages that some prisoners can receive in any given envelope, and a newsletter might work better for that segment of the overall PBM population than a magazine.
Really?? What kind of page limit do they have? If I mail turns to prisons I may exceed page limits pretty quickly.
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(03-12-2021, 03:48 AM)Davin Wrote: Really?? What kind of page limit do they have? If I mail turns to prisons I may exceed page limits pretty quickly.
It's gonna depend on the prison, Davin.
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03-12-2021, 05:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2021, 08:09 PM by ravenzachary.)
Here's what I learned about Federal Prisons...
* Labels on envelopes must be hand-written, no sticker labels allowed.
* 16oz worth of paper per envelope is allowed before it gets rejected by federal prison mail rooms. I believe that's around 55-65 pages depending on the thickness of the paper. It may go higher than that, but the envelope itself has a weight to it.
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Ok, I think I can live with those sorts of limitations if they're that high. Do you have any idea of how I might check the weight limit definitively (at each particular prison, if needed)?
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03-12-2021, 08:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2021, 08:13 PM by ravenzachary.)
The problem is that each prison is like a small fiefdom where the local lord is moody. Certain rules apply across all federal prisons, some are arbitrary per prison. Then, you get into state prisons and it's 50 different sets of rules with even more arbitrary feudal lords with their own special rules.
There is no source of truth, only trial and error through attempts.
The best source is intel is through the other PBM GMs who offer postal service.
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(03-12-2021, 05:19 AM)ravenzachary Wrote: Here's what I learned about Federal Prisons...
* Labels on envelopes must be hand-written, no sticker labels allowed.
* 16oz worth of paper per envelope is allowed before it gets rejected by federal prison mail rooms. I believe that's around 55-65 pages depending on the thickness of the paper. It may go higher than that, but the envelope itself has a weight to it.
I don't use labels. I print directly onto the envelope, itself.
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(04-30-2021, 10:53 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: (03-12-2021, 05:19 AM)ravenzachary Wrote: Here's what I learned about Federal Prisons...
* Labels on envelopes must be hand-written, no sticker labels allowed.
* 16oz worth of paper per envelope is allowed before it gets rejected by federal prison mail rooms. I believe that's around 55-65 pages depending on the thickness of the paper. It may go higher than that, but the envelope itself has a weight to it.
I don't use labels. I print directly onto the envelope, itself.
This is what I think the PBM companies are doing. I know that Rolling Thunder Game made a stamp for their return address.
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(04-30-2021, 10:53 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: (03-12-2021, 05:19 AM)ravenzachary Wrote: Here's what I learned about Federal Prisons...
* Labels on envelopes must be hand-written, no sticker labels allowed.
* 16oz worth of paper per envelope is allowed before it gets rejected by federal prison mail rooms. I believe that's around 55-65 pages depending on the thickness of the paper. It may go higher than that, but the envelope itself has a weight to it.
I don't use labels. I print directly onto the envelope, itself.
If printing directly on the envelopes is allowed, and sticker labels are not allowed, to what then does the "hand-written" restriction apply?
I was expecting to hand-write addresses if necessary, but printed envelopes are easier. I may end up hand-writing them all just in case local rules are different.
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