Technology Advances - E-mail from Clients in BOP Custody

Did you know your client in Bureau of Prison custody now has the option of adding you to his approved e-mail list? This new invent is coming to a prison near you, but with the added warning that all content will be monitored. I recently received a letter from a client asking that I give approval to be added to his e-mail list. You too may receive a similar request. If you choose to do so, a letter must first be forwarded to the client noting the approval for e-mail purposes. You will then receive an e-mail (both in English and in Spanish) giving you three options: (1) approve the prisoner for message exchanges, (2) refuse the specific prisoner's request for message exchange, or (3) refuse this and all future federal prisoners' request for message exchanges. If approval is given, you will later receive a confirmation that the request has been granted. With each e-mail received from the client, you have the following options: (1) take no action which results in your remaining on the prisoner's contact list, (2) remove yourself from this specific prisoner's contact list, and (3) removing yourself form this specific contact list and refuse all future federal prisoner request's for message exchanges. Messages may not exceed 4,000 characters (approximately 2 pages) or have any attachments. If this requirement is not followed, the message will be rejected with such notification of rejection by return e-mail. For additional information related to this program, you can visit the www.inmatemessage.com Frequently Asked Question page.

Be forewarned of the small print (as with any contract): "By approving this transaction, you consent to have Bureau of Prisons staff monitor the content of all electronic messages exchanged." If you choose to accept e-mail, you likely will want to warn your client not to exchange messages that relate to confidential matters, as this information will be learned by the staff. Matters of confidential information should instead be discussed through arranging a conference call through the client's inmate case manager at the prison.