Sending money and mail to a Berks County Jail inmate

There are three ways to reach someone in the Berks County Jail System with money or mail, and each uses a different account or address. You put spending money on their jail account online at web.connectnetwork.com or by money order. You add tablet money separately at gettingout.com. And you mail letters and photos to a screening service called TextBehind, not to the jail itself.

Keeping the three straight saves a wasted trip or a bounced deposit. The Berks County Jail System is the county-run jail at 1287 County Welfare Road in Leesport. You will need the inmate's full name and their jail number, written as their BCJS number, for anything you send. If you do not have that number, our guide on how to find someone in Berks County Jail shows how to get it.

Put money on their jail account

The jail keeps one account for each inmate that pays for commissary, the snacks, hygiene items, and supplies inmates buy from the jail, and for their phone calls. Two ways to add to it:

1. Online is fastest. Deposit at web.connectnetwork.com. You will need the inmate's name and BCJS number. The site charges its own service fee, which it shows before you confirm.
2. By mail, use a money order. Make a money order, a government check, or a payroll check payable to the inmate and send it to the personal-mail address under Send letters and photos below. The jail stamps money orders and government checks "For Deposit Only" and credits the account.

Do not mail cash. Cash sent through the mail is confiscated and not returned, and personal checks and credit cards are treated as contraband and destroyed. Once money is on the account, the inmate uses it to order commissary and to place calls. To pay for calls specifically, you can either keep money on this account so the inmate calls on debit, or accept collect calls billed to your own phone.

Add money to their tablet

The tablet account is separate from the jail account, and money cannot move between the two. Inmates use a tablet for messages, photos, music, games, and video calls. To fund it, set up an account at gettingout.com or the GettingOut app and add money there.

The same GettingOut account is how you exchange messages and photos. Family and friends pay $0.25 per message and $0.50 per photo. Time the inmate spends in the tablet's messaging and entertainment apps also draws a per-minute charge of 3 to 5 cents, depending on the tablet plan, from the same balance, so a tablet deposit funds more than the per-message fees alone. Inmates place video and phone calls from the tablet too; our guide on visiting an inmate at Berks County Jail covers those in full.

Send letters and photos

Where you mail something depends on what it is. Two addresses:

Personal letters, greeting cards, printed photos, money orders, and government or payroll checks go to TextBehind, the jail's mail-screening service:

(Inmate's full name) – BCJS number
Berks County Jail System
P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, MD 21131

TextBehind photocopies your letter, the envelope, and any photos, screens them for contraband, and delivers the copies to the inmate. That screening is free to the inmate. You can also skip the post office and send letters and photos electronically through textbehind.com or its app, at TextBehind's own prices.

Legal mail, magazines, newspapers, and books go straight to the jail instead:

(Inmate's full name) – BCJS number
Berks County Jail System
1287 County Welfare Road
Leesport, PA 19533

Magazines, newspapers, and books have to come directly from a publisher, a bookstore, or a book club. Every envelope needs a complete return address with the sender's first and last name, street, city, state, and ZIP, handwritten or typed. The jail rejects address labels and stickers, and it will not accept collect-on-delivery or postage-due mail.

What you cannot send

The jail treats a long list of items as contraband and will not pass them to the inmate:

• Cash, personal checks, or credit cards.
• Anything with stickers, tape, glitter, glue, colored markings, crayon, paint, or lipstick.
• Polaroid photos, or any item larger than 8.5 by 11 inches.
• Clothing, undergarments, or sneakers.
• A letter that includes mail from a third party, meaning anyone other than the person named in the return address.
• Items soaked in perfume or any other substance, and anything written in code.

An item held as contraband is kept for at least 45 days so the sender or the inmate can appeal through the jail's grievance system. After that, it is destroyed unless you arrange to have it mailed back at your expense.

FAQ

What is the fastest way to put money on someone's account at Berks County Jail?

An online deposit at web.connectnetwork.com posts fastest. A money order by mail works too, but it travels through TextBehind's screening first, so it takes longer to reach the account.

Can I send cash to an inmate at Berks County Jail?

No. Cash mailed to the jail is confiscated and moved to the inmate welfare fund, with no refund. Use an online deposit or a money order made out to the inmate instead.

Why does my letter go to a P.O. box in Maryland?

Berks County uses a company called TextBehind to screen and photocopy incoming personal mail, and the inmate receives the copies. Only legal mail, magazines, and books go to the jail's Leesport address.

How do I send a photo to an inmate?

Mail printed photos, but not Polaroids, to the TextBehind P.O. box, or send them electronically through textbehind.com or the GettingOut tablet ($0.50 each). Keep photos within the 8.5-by-11-inch size limit.

How do I find someone's BCJS number?

Start with our guide on how to find someone in Berks County Jail, which covers confirming that someone is in custody through the free VINE service and by calling the jail at 610-208-4800, plus checking court records. For where the jail fits in how Berks County government works, and the county's plan to replace the aging facility, see our new jail project status report.

Sources

• Berks County Jail System — Inmate Services — indexes the jail's commissary, inmate banking and account-deposit, mail, and telephone services.
• Berks County Jail System Inmate Handbook (2024) — the account-deposit options (web.connectnetwork.com; money orders, government checks, and payroll checks by mail; cash, personal checks, and credit cards barred as contraband), the separate tablet account funded through gettingout.com and its $0.25-per-message and $0.50-per-photo rates, the two incoming-mail addresses (personal mail and money orders to TextBehind at P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131; legal mail, magazines, and books to 1287 County Welfare Road, Leesport), the return-address rules, and the contraband list and 45-day appeal window.
• Berks County Jail System — facility name, address (1287 County Welfare Road, Leesport, PA 19533), and main phone (610-208-4800).

Berks County Jail System: 1287 County Welfare Road, Leesport, PA 19533; 610-208-4800.