Right Skye that's what I meant. Probably not EVERY single inmate would they even care who is writing them. Maybe family or what not. People who are directly related to them by blood or marriage. However, my pen pal was in that group when I first began writing so my assumption was with him, they would not be taking any chances. I'm not sure if that rule would apply to DR inmates? It seems like it might because the nature of the crimes may be such that the inmates would receive more "hate mail" or be from people on the outside that might mean them harm or would make threats in letters.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

Well it does and doesn't apply to those on DR. It's kind of quarky in a sense.

You see, Junior was not convicted of a heinous crime, a robbery gone bad, co-defendant shot the clerk, they both got the DP, and later both would be reduced.

They never really paid his mail much attention, except for some items that were considered contraband. Such as my bright idea to take pictures of my daily journey to work. They claim the pictures could have been used in an escape attempt. So for a period of 6 months our mail was read by the powers that be. It was something so innocent that caused this. We went from a 4 day transit time in our mail to a 10 day transit time. It really sucked.

Now, there are guys on death row, and I will use this as an example... Joe (fictitious name here) and his co-defendants were in a street gang prior to incarceration. Their crime was extremely heinous. He and his co-defendants were subjected at times to the STG Officers reading their mail. Because of the nature of the crime and the fact that they were in a street gang. Mail to the individual I was writing on rare occasions was extremely long in transit.

Now my pal Pedro is a bad boy all the way. His is in Ca and in the SHU as a validated gang member. His mail is read. I was writing him regarding a situation in my community that was gang related. I never mentioned the word gang or the actual gang name. It did ,however, delay his mail more than normal.

Then there is my cousin who was in an STG in TX and he was placed in seg. After being there for 9 years he decided to go through the grad program to get out of the gang. His mail was tracked coming in and out for a period of 2 years. Which is part of the program.

I guess it is one of those things that can vary from offender to offender.

I really don't care if they track me. I am not doing anything wrong. I just send in letters that probably would bore the people reading them. Apart from that, I use a post office box anyways, because I have a problem with the fact that the mail room has coded my mail to the wrong offender on various occasions and I don't want some random dude getting my home address.

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Thankyou very much Skye...

Skye if I could ask did you send the photos when he was at Ellis or Polunsky ? I Heard Ellis was much more lax than Polunsky about that . I do know theDR andSTG guys / gals mail is copied and of course all STG mail is read . This tends to slow down mail at Polunsky and Estelle among others .

I think on DR/ STG now TDC copies both the letter and the envelope So they have a record of things . If it was Joe Avg I doubt they care much . Just takes longer for them to get their mail.


In 2 minds . It is very unlikely they will share any details of their crime due to them having a lot of appeals and anything can be used in court unless it is legal mail. I do however suggest you research your potential pal first to see if you can in fact write to them . There is always the possibility of you finding out their crime . I know for a fact in Texas at any rate there are guys on DR who did not even take a life but were part of a crime as in Skyes Husbands case a robbery gone wrong or even just driving a car with out knowing a person was killed . It can be all to easy to end up on TX DR . This is due to a Law called the Law of parties that magically transfers guilt to any one the prosecutor so desires .Not every one on DR is some Richard Ramirez either .That is a huge myth . Some certainly are others are not .

Good luck in what ever you choose .

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If the storm doesn't kill me
the government will

REM

In2 minds you asked about envelopes and stamps . I would check with that DOC . I know in TX it is not allowed at all . You have to go to store to buy your envelopes and stamps . You can probably just read what is allowed to be sent onthat person DOC or BOP site . You can also ask them they will usually tell you what you can and cannot send . They usually do not want to catch a case so they are up front about it .

I would not send any funds right away either . If you do develop a friendship you might on special occasions send a little .

__________________
If the storm doesn't kill me
the government will

REM

When did TDC start copying DR mail? That one is news to me. I know that they do the STG's but they never did my mail to Junior nor my Uncle. I had even asked our lawyers this very question and it was explained to me by both the inmates and the lawyers, hell even prison officials that they only copy the mail of the STG's. Now... there could be an STG on DR and their mail was copied, but there is no way they copied all of that mail going into polunsky.

Our letters were 3 to 4 days between. Which is the norm for even now. The amount of mail going into DR at Polunsky is too much for them to maintain that type of turn around and copy those letters.

I know it's possible this may have changed but while my uncle and junior were there - it wasn't going on.

Again, if it were happening I wouldn't have cared. They have a job to do and it's not like we were talking about some deeply secretive stuff.

The pictures I sent in were sent to Polunsky. It is funny now that we look back at it.

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I think it was after they moved DR to Polunsky . I am almost positive the copy all DR mail I think they do it at the Pickett where the bosses have plenty of time to do so . I could be wrong and it could be due to STGs. I think all DR prisoners are now considered STGs by TDC and maybe after the TX 7 TDC decided to do this . I could be wrong But I do not doubt TDC copies their mail

__________________
If the storm doesn't kill me
the government will

REM

Skye When you say 3 -4 days do you mean it takes 3 - 4 days to get there and 3 - 4 days for a letter to come back to you. .That seems to be the Case with me. I add a day for the mail room to sort it .
I think all DR mail is handled differently I think the 999 and 000 numbers are kept separate . The SSIs would talk about how the guys on DR complained about slow mail in DR and that it was being copied .
It is possible TDC simply did not tell anyone ? TDC is known for making up things as they go and not telling any one a lot of what they do .

__________________
If the storm doesn't kill me
the government will

REM

They do not consider all DR inmates STG. I had heard that once before, but found out when the Juvenile's were taken off of death row that this was not the case.

If they had considered them STG they would have not been put in population when there were classified during the intake process. In-fact, the offenders received the best classification that they were able to receive due to their behavior while on death row.

Now, there are inmates who do pose a constant threat to inmates and staff alike who are on DR and those are considered STG. Those inmates do receive stricter rules so to speak as far as correspondence and so on.

If I remember correctly, there are two levels on DR. One where they are able to have certain things like radio and hot pot, etc... because of good behavior and the other level inmates are not allowed any of those items due to classification. It would be those offenders who are considered STG.

Junior received my mail in 4 days and I receive his in 3 to 4. That is how it was at Polunsky and at his current facility.

However, when I sent those pictures, it was a 10 transit time one way.

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TX DR has three level i ma not sure what each gets I know that level three is the guys who are always acting up and are STGs or violent level 2 is if they act up on Level one which is like regular ad seg . Ad Seg has the same thing They restrict what you can have and buy at store .

It could be they copy the mail of some of them I know a few are either really dangerous or some do act up as a means of protest . Yes Many of them got very good classifications when they came off DR It must be very strange going from DR to population. It is strange going seg to poulation never mind DR.

__________________
If the storm doesn't kill me
the government will

REM