Practical tools
Reach someone inside. Send mail. Book a visit.
We compile the official contact procedures, mailing rules, and inmate-locator services for the countries we cover with a curated family toolkit. Every link points to the government source — we don't handle the request ourselves.
Official inmate locators
Government search tools for finding where a person is held. Always the most up-to-date source.
- Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator
All federal BOP facilities. State prisons each have their own — see state DOC websites.
- Prison finder (gov.uk)
England & Wales. Scotland: sps.gov.uk; Northern Ireland: justice-ni.gov.uk.
- Correctional Service Canada — offender search
Federal sentences (2 years +). Provincial via each province's corrections page.
- By state — Corrective Services portals
Each state operates its own — NSW Corrective Services, VIC Corrections, QLD CSCD, etc.
- Department of Corrections — prisoner contact
All NZ prisons. Contact form via the operating department.
- Ministère de la Justice — annuaire des établissements pénitentiaires
Searchable directory of all French penal establishments.
- By state — Land Justizvollzug
Each Bundesland operates its own prison administration; no federal locator.
- Department of Corrections (Thailand)
Searches by facility, not by individual. Family contact via the local consulate is more reliable.
- Ministry of Justice (Japan)
No public inmate locator. Contact via the consulate of the country of nationality.
- Kriminalomsorgen — prison directory
Browse facilities; no public inmate search — contact the specific prison.
- Dirección General de Centros Penales
Limited public information. Family contact via legal counsel is recommended.
Country family toolkits
A condensed cheat-sheet per country: how to address mail, send money, book visits, and contact the operator. Open any individual prison page to get the toolkit pre-filled with that facility's name and address.
United States
USD- 📬 4 mailing rules
- 👥 4 visiting rules
- 💸 4 money-transfer services
- 📧 Email-a-prisoner service
- 🗓 Visit booking link
United Kingdom
GBP- 📬 4 mailing rules
- 👥 4 visiting rules
- 💸 1 money-transfer services
- 📧 Email-a-prisoner service
- 🗓 Visit booking link
Canada
CAD- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 3 visiting rules
- 💸 2 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
Australia
AUD- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 3 visiting rules
- 💸 3 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
New Zealand
NZD- 📬 2 mailing rules
- 👥 2 visiting rules
- 💸 1 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
France
EUR- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 3 visiting rules
- 💸 1 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
Germany
EUR- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 3 visiting rules
- 💸 1 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
Thailand
THB- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 4 visiting rules
- 💸 2 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
Japan
JPY- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 3 visiting rules
- 💸 1 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
Norway
NOK- 📬 3 mailing rules
- 👥 2 visiting rules
- 💸 1 money-transfer services
- 🗓 Visit booking link
El Salvador
USD- 📬 2 mailing rules
- 👥 2 visiting rules
- 💸 0 money-transfer services
More country toolkits arrive as we curate them — request a country at /data-sources.
Send money
A few major services families use to send money to prisoners. Listed here for reference — we don't endorse any particular operator and most prisons require pre-approval.
- Western Union QuickCollect — federal BOP
United States · Code city: FBOP, State: DC. Receiver: inmate's first/last name and 8-digit register number.
- JPay (most state prisons)
United States
- MoneyGram (NYC DOC, some county jails)
United States
- Access Corrections
United States
- Send Money to a Prisoner — GOV.UK
United Kingdom · Free, online. Funds typically appear in 3 working days.
- Inmate Trust Account — Correctional Service Canada
Canada · Money orders payable to 'Receiver General for Canada' with inmate's FPS number.
- Telmate / GTL (federal)
Canada
- Corrective Services NSW — Inmate Trust
Australia
- Corrections Victoria — E-Pay
Australia
- Queensland Corrective Services — eDeposit
Australia
- Inmate Trust Account — Department of Corrections
New Zealand · Deposit via internet banking; account number on the corrections.govt.nz contact page.
- Cap Justice — Mandat aux détenus
France · Versement par carte bancaire ou virement; arrive sous 48–72 h.
Need a country we don't have?
We're expanding country coverage as families request it. If you need procedures for a country not listed here, please get in touch — describe the situation and we'll do the curation work.