Address:
5885 West River Road
Salem, VA 24153
Phone:
540-378-3700
SmartMail allows inmates to communicate safely and quickly with family and friends outside of the jail, prison or detention center. Inmates send and receive electronic letters using a safe and secure computer kiosk or tablet stationed in their institution. THE COST IS JUST $0.50 CENTS; cheaper than a postage stamp and envelope.
More information on how to send and receive messages and photos with an inmate.
Almost all jails and prisons have adopted a messaging system which allows inmates to communicate with their friends and family using an electronic messaging system. It’s neither email nor text, it’s something in between.
The inmate and their contacts do not use their regular email accounts or phone numbers, but account numbers that are set up with the company providing the service.
All communication goes through them. Think of them as a middleman.
Once a contact of the inmate is approved, like the approval process a visitor goes through, an account is set up, using a credit or debit card to fund the account.
To start, the inmate’s contact can send a message that has a limit of so many characters, usually about one page of text.
The message is then reviewed by a computer that scans the message for certain keywords or phrases that are not allowed, almost like a censoring service. If the machine scanner finds problems with the message it sends the message to the Western Virginia Regional Jail staff to review, and if they find no issues, will then forward it to the inmate’s account so that they can read it.
If there are problems with the message, it is possible the message will not be sent. The sender will be notified of the decision and will not get a refund.
Once the inmate receives the message, should the account holder have funded the account allowing replies, the inmate can respond with a similar length message.
The cost to use the electronic messaging service, which is like texting or emailing, costs between $0.50 and $1.00 per page; a page being about 500 characters.
Photos can be sent by the inmate’s contact that is not incarcerated, but not by the inmate due to security concerns. There is an extra cost, usually about $0.50 for each photo attached.
The photos must go through a security screening where nudity, violence and other things are checked before the photo can be delivered. If the photo is rejected, the sender will be notified, but no refund will be given.
The inmate does not have the ability to print out the photos that make it past the screening, but the photos will stay in their account so that they can view them at their leisure.
No. Because this is a closed system, the inmate has no access to the internet, thus the inmate will have no access to any links that you send them.
Yes, just as you can send text and photos, you can send a video message, or if not a message, then a video of your children or yourself. Every company has a limit on the length of the video, usually no more than one minute, and at a cost of approximately $2.00 to $3.00 per video.
The video will first be screened for any nudity, excessive vulgarity, violence, etc. If it is rejected on any of the grounds the sender will not be given a refund.
As with the policy of photos, the inmate cannot reciprocate. They cannot send videos of themselves or anything in jail.
The jails that contract with the electronic messaging service is given a certain number of kiosks within each unit for inmate use. Inmates can log on as they might with a public computer terminal.
In addition to the public terminal kiosks, inmates are given (or can rent) access to individual tablets like a bulky, almost indestructible ipad. These allow an inmate to use them to access your messages, photos and videos in a more private manner.
Should the inmate damage the tablet, they will be responsible for replacing it. The money will be deducted from their commissary account.
The electronic messaging system used by Western Virginia Regional Jail, if there is one, can be found at the top of this page. If there is no information about the ability to text or email with an inmate, it is possible that the facility has recently changed companies or does not have this service available. Call 540-378-3700 to confirm.
This is a list of all the companies in the United States that work with jails and prisons, providing text and email messaging between inmates and their friends and families:
Access Corrections
CIDNET
City Tele Coin
Correct Pay
Corrlinks
Ctel
Edevo
Express Account
Gettingout
GTL
Homewav
IC Solutions
Inmate Canteen
Inmate Sales
JailATM
J Pay
NCIC
Paytel
Pigeonly
Prodigy Sales
Reliance
Securus
Smart Communications
TBE
Visitel
You fund the messaging service with credit and debit cards. All of them take Visa and MasterCard, most also take Discover, and just some take America Express.
There is no limit to the amount of texting and email that an inmate can have with their family and friends.
If an inmate has their own tablet, then they can text any time of the day or night, however if the must use the wall mounted kiosk terminal in their unit, they are limited to using it only during the hours they are allowed off their bunks; usually 7:00AM to 10:00PM, excluding meals, head counts and shift changes.
No, inmates are not allowed to communicate with each other, nor with inmates in other institutions. There is always a way to get around it, for example if one of the inmates has access to a phone with an internet connection, but this would be the only way.
They may not be directly connected to the internet, but inmates at Western Virginia Regional Jail are provided free tablets to use within the jail that allow them to have access to the following services and information:
The availability of tablets may seem like something that inmates who are serving time do not deserve, but here are some of the benefits for inmates in Salem City:
For more information about Tablets and how your inmate can get one to use while he is in jail, chek out our Inmate Tablet page.
Check with Western Virginia Regional Jail by calling 540-378-3700 prior to paying a bond online as this is being rolled out to different facilities slowly.
1. Commissary money in the form of a money order may be mailed to:
AdvancePay Service Department
P.O. Box 911722
Denver, CO 80291-1722
2. You may use cash or credit/debit cards at any time by using the kiosk located in the front lobby. The fee for the use of the ATM is generally $1.50 per transaction for cash and 10% fee for credit/debit cards.
3. Commissary money can also be added to an inmates account at any time using any of these methods online.
4. Cash deposits to ConnectNetwork are now available at 26,000 retail locations nationwide including Walmart, ACE, Kmart, Kroger, and more. You’ll start the payment process online in your ConnectNetwork account, then complete your transaction with cash at a participating local retail store. Plus, many of these stores are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Find a retail store near you.
5. You can call customer service 24/7 at 877-650-4249 and get instructions for depositing money over the phone using a debit or credit card.
To Deposit Money in an inmate's account follow these steps:
**NOTE** GTL is in a transition merging into a new company called ViaPath Technologies.
Features:
All the information you need to understand depositing money into an inmate's trust fund, specifically for phone calls, but also for Commissary, in Salem City, can be found on our Send Money Page.
Follow these instructions on how to open an account with GTL Connect Network (aka Viapath Technologies)
For full instructions on the Western Virginia Regional Jail Inmate Phone System, what the costs are, how it works, and tips and guidelines on rules, regulations and saving money on calls, check out our Inmate Phones Page.
How to Make a Deposit for Phone, Email or Visitation using GettingOut.com
Western Virginia Regional Jail uses GettingOut for some or all of its communication services with an inmate.
If you want to deposit money using this company for your use or your inmate's account, there are four ways to do it:
For all the information you need to know, including tips, guidelines and warnings about depositing money in a Western Virginia Regional Jail inmate's account for communication services, check out our Send Money page.
To mail or email an inmate in Salem City follow these steps:
When mailing a letter or postcard to an inmate, please follow these instructions:
Emailing Messages & Photos
Facility_name_1} contracts with GTL GettingOut, the same service that handles iInmate Phone Systems and Video Visitation, for sending secure messages and photos between you and your inmate.
If you are not already registered, do so here, or Log in.
Then use the Facility Finder to:
1. Select Western Virginia Regional Jail,
2. Add your inmate to your list of contacts,
3. Add a credit or debit card to cover your costs.
Customer Service Questions
'Online' Contact Form, or
Call 866-516-0115
Go here to this FAQ to get answers to how the transition to ViaPath from GTL and gettingout will affect your account.
All the information you need to understand mail and email policies for Salem City can be found on our Inmate Mail Page and our Text/Email an Inmate Page.
To schedule a visit and meet with an inmate in Salem City, either at-the-jail or remotely by video, follow these instructions:
For all the information you need to schedule and visit with a Western Virginia Regional Jail inmate, including how it works, how much it costs, visitation using a rented tablet, how often and when you can visit and more, check out our Visit Inmate Page.
NOTE: Your visits will be monitored, recorded and stored. You may want to refrain from discussing your inmate's court case as anything discussed can be used against them in court.
To communicate by text or email with an Salem City inmate, follow these instructions:
For all the information you need to send and receive secure messages in the form of text or email with a Western Virginia Regional Jail inmate, including how it works, how much it costs, renting your inmate a tablet, how often you can communicate and more, check out our Text/Email an Inmate Page.
NOTE: Your messages will be monitored and stored. You may want to refrain from discussing your inmate's court case.
