Quick facts

System

Kentucky Department of Corrections (DOC)

Inmate ID

DOC number (from KOOL)

General mail goes to

The incarcerated person’s facility mailing address

Recipient receives

Actual mail (inspected; not a statewide digital-mail center)

Carrier

U.S. Postal Service only (per facility mail guidance)

Paper & envelope

White paper and white envelope — colored stationery is prohibited (CPP 16.2)

Ordinary letter timing

Generally delivered within 48 hours of receipt on normal workdays (excluding weekends and holidays)

Where to send mail

Personal mail from family and friends (including printed PDFs)

Use KOOL to confirm the person’s DOC number and current facility, then open that institution’s page on corrections.ky.gov for its mailing address (PO box or street). Include the person’s full name, DOC number, facility name, and your complete return address. Mail without a proper sender address may be returned.

[Full Name] [DOC Number]
[Facility Name]
[Facility PO Box or street address]
[City, KY ZIP]

Send elsewhere or use special channels

• Books, magazines, and other publications → Publisher or mail-order distributor — not packed into personal letters

  Publications must be prepaid by the incarcerated person through institutional procedures and mailed prepaid by the distributor (CPP 16.2). Free publications from a legitimate publisher may be received if requested by the inmate.

• Privileged / legal mail (attorneys) → Facility — with Attorney Control Number (ACN) and secondary code

  Licensed attorneys must register through DOC’s legal mail portal and include a valid ACN plus a confidential secondary code on each piece of privileged mail. Without both codes, the inmate may be offered a copy-in-presence process or the mail may be returned. Non-privileged attorney mail must be marked “Not Privileged” and is treated as regular mail.

• Funds → Approved deposit channels — not cash in the envelope

  Stamps, cash, money orders, and checks are prohibited in incoming mail (except limited blank reply envelopes described in CPP 16.2). Use Access Corrections or other DOC-approved deposit methods instead of enclosing money with a PDF mailing.

• Packages → Per CPP 16.4 inmate package policy — not ordinary letter mail

  Do not mail care packages or padded parcels as personal correspondence. See DOC package policy for approved channels.

Format & content rules

• Kentucky has no statewide mail-processing center — mail the packet to the facility where the person is housed. Non-privileged mail is opened and may be inspected or read for contraband and policy violations.
• Use white paper in a standard white envelope. CPP 16.2 prohibits non-white envelopes or paper, stickers/decals, homemade or musical greeting cards, drawings in colored ink/marker/crayon, glitter, raised decorations, paint, glue, white-out, and similar items.
• Do not enclose stamps, cash, money orders, or checks. You may include up to three (3) standard white reply envelopes (9.5″ × 4″ or smaller) with metered postage — but no stamps — inside one mailing.
• Sexually explicit material (including nudity as defined in CPP 16.2) is prohibited in incoming mail.
• All incoming mail must go via the U.S. Postal Service per DOC facility guidance. Express mail, COD, and private-carrier services are not used for outgoing inmate mail; confirm facility practice before using non-USPS services for incoming mail.
• If the person transfers, mail may be forwarded for up to 30 days — always confirm current location in KOOL before sending.

Document mailing checklist

1. Confirm the person is in DOC custody and look up their DOC number and current facility in KOOL.
2. Find the facility mailing address on corrections.ky.gov (institution pages list PO boxes or street addresses).
3. Print on white letter-size paper; use a plain white envelope with black or dark ink and a complete return address.
4. Address with full name + DOC number + facility name, then mail as personal correspondence via USPS.

Look up a DOC number →

Send with PrisonPDF

• Upload a multi-page PDF or DOCX and we print and mail it for you.
• When you select Kentucky, we format mail for facility delivery on white paper; you provide the facility mailing address from KOOL.
• We do not review PDFs — DOC may still reject or withhold mail that violates policy.

Official sources

• CPP 16.2 — Inmate Correspondence (effective Feb 4, 2025)
• 501 KAR 6:430 — Communication, mail, and visiting
• DOC Chapter 16 — Communication, Mail and Visiting
• KOOL — Kentucky Offender Online Lookup
• DOC — Adult Institutions directory
• DOC — Legal Mail Portal