It seems almost every prison has it own rules regarding books,and magazines. One P/P i have in Mininsota syas that it is possible to send these directly.

" The only thing besides letters pictures and photos that can be mailed is books.Up to 5 books can be mailed direct But you must write X ( being the number of books you have enclosed) book/s enclosed per B.O.P policy on the package."

Whereas most Prisons insist that the books come straight from the publisher or store ( such as Amazon)

I think it's best that you check first with th the particular Prison what the regulations are

i went on to Amazon.com yesterday ( sunday) and ordered a book for one of my P/P's.
All you do is make sure you order a paperback ( softcover) version of the book, as a lot of prisons won't accept hardcover books due to the possibility of things being hidden in the binding.Then put the the inmates name and number and the FULL address of the prison ( including zop code) in the "shipping address section", and then put your details in the "Billing address" section.

check that everything is correct,then click "process order",it will ask you for your credit card details,fill that out then click "confirm order" and hey presto job done.You will get an email to confirm your order, and tell you when the book is likely to be shipped and an estimated delivery date.

I got a confirmation e-mail today ( monday) and the book will be shipped tomorrow.

Prepaid Credit Cards in Holland

Prepaid Credit Cards are not used because the Dutch have a sytem known as the PIN ( Personal Identification Number ) transaction. When you pay with your bankcard and pincode the retailer pays a fee. The use of the regular credit card is low in the Netherlands. One of the reasons is that the Dutch have a bad credit checking system ( called BKR ) all banks and credit providers have access to.If you are on this BKR list your application for a credit card will be rejected."

Same in France - we use PIN credit cards. You always need to enter a pin number for each transaction, not only when you withdraw cash at an ATM but whenever you pay with it.
Most of the time I use the credit card because it's easier and nowadays checks are often rejected because under a certain amount, the retailer doesn't get his money back if you sign a "blank check".


I was so surprised when I moved to the US to see that all you had to do was to sign a receipt, they never checked my card (I got a US account so my card was American) or my ID. Seems so easy to steal a card and use it ! No pin number needed.

There is another way but it is a bit longwinded.

Do you know anyone in the U.S/Canada or Europe that you could send the money to via paypal.Then once they have the funds, they use their credit card to purchase and send the book on your behalf?

through your bank account usually you can get your savings or checking card with a debit option. so its technically not a c/card but you have the option to use visa or mastercard, but using your own money

I was able to sent the book with paypal.
Thank everyone