Letter to inmate in spanish

Question

My cousin is in jail, and I wanted to write him a letter. He speaks English but Spanish is his main language. If I write him a letter in Spanish is that OK? Is it allowed? I know that sometimes letters are screened, and if the people screening can't read it, will he still get it?

Answer 1

Hello Maura. I can tell you from working in our mail room off and on for over 6 years that if we cannot read the language that a letter is written in, we cannot verify that it is not gang related. As such, we will automatically contraband the letter with the legal reason of not being able to verify the content.

On the plus side, most prisons have staff members who are fluent in Spanish, but the prison is NOT obligated to run and find someone. If the person inspecting is not fluent, the letter will more than likely not make it through.

PS....We had a problem similar to this several years back with 3 Chinese nationals that were incarcerated. They only spoke and wrote Chinese and all communication from "home" was in that language. This was argued back and forth in the legal department but in the end, our basic rule stayed the same. We couldnt read it, so they were refused.

Personally, since you said he can read English, I would avoid any potential problems and use it.

Best of luck and I hope this is useful to you

Answer 2

He will get it but it could take a while because it has to be screened and if there is no one there to screen it it will get thrown out or mailed back to you you are better off writing in english