Addressing a Letter



Person sending the letter: To send a letter to an inmate you have to address the envelope the way the jail wants it.  In the upper left hand corner you need to print the sender’s name and address.

Person receiving the letter:

The first line should have the inmate’s name.  It should be the name he is booked under at that time.  Right after the name you will need to put his sid number.

The second line will be the inmate’s location.  A location of ADC6BG23 would be broken down as Adult Detention Center (ADC), sixth floor, unit BG, cell 23.  Since the ADC doesn’t really help to find an inmate you will frequently be given the location without the ADC portion.  Either way will work.

The third line should have Bexar County Adult Detention Center on it but you can write B.C.A.D.C. instead.

The fourth and fifth lines will have the actual physical address of the jail.  This is the address you will send regular mail to for both the Main Jail and the Annex.  The mail room will separate it.

How to address a letter.

Envelopes not addressed correctly will usually be returned to the sender.

146 thoughts on “Addressing a Letter

  1. crystal

    Are Bexar County Jail visitations times/days and mailing address the same for the Annex Detention Center across the street?

  2. lin

    can you use pre addressed return address labels? and

    can you use tape on the outside of the envelope?( i like to print out an address label in large type and tape to envelope)

    • admin

      Lin – We haven’t seen anything that says you can’t but we wouldn’t be surprised if they rejected the letter because of the labels.

    • admin

      Mumina – The Annex is part of the Bexar County jail. It’s just additional holding space. Women and non-violent male offenders are housed at the Annex.

    • admin

      Esmeralda – The sid number is the unique number assigned to a person who has been booked into the jail. If the person gets arrested again he keeps his same sid number. Call Central Records at 210-335-6201 to get the inmates sid number. You will need his name and date of birth.

  3. ashley

    just spoke with the court records number that’s been posted here – with whom I spoke, she advsd that we don’t need the location (possibly bc I had the SID number). She said put the name, the SID number, and list the rest as it shows above. Just and FYI–

      • admin

        Lynn – That’s one thing they really do use. Hopefully the person you mail the letter to doesn’t have a common name. They could either return it or it could even end up being delivered to the wrong person.

        We would like to ask our readers to help spread the word about our website. Please recommend us to people you know. Thank you.

    • AMBERLEY

      probably not the smartest idea to write a pen pal i understand but be careful… they could be using you and they could surely give any one your adress now. so many criminals, that you dont know. be aware of the dangers when you see a “attractive” man on prison/jail websites and think about mailing them. i promise you are NOT the only one as well, they constantly look up the women in jails mugshots, ( officers show them although they arnt supposed to… they do!) so even as a woman, a girl i knew wanted to find a cute guy to write while locked up and we all just sat there as the officer scrolled through the photos of inmates and about 90% of the females picked a male inmate to have as penpal white incareated… just a warning for ya

    • admin

      Jenn – They will look up his location with the sid number. It just makes it a little bit easier if the location is already there.

  4. admin

    Patrick – You can call Central Records at 210-335-6201. You will need his name and date of birth or his sid number. If you only have the sid number you can put that on the envelope and it will get to your friend, it just makes it easier if the location is already there.

  5. admin

    Jenn – They will not release that information over the phone. You need to either send a letter asking the inmate to put you on the list or go to the jail to find out if you are there.

  6. Shelly

    I accidentally addressed a letter to 207 N. comal which is the Bexar County Adult Probation building. Will they return it to sender like the jail does? Or send it to the jail from there? Im hoping that its not lost and that im able to get it back and send it again to my girlfriend. Please let me know any information

    • admin

      Jean – We put the official instructions on how to send a letter but the truth is you only need the sid number. They will look up the rest. If you still want the location number call Central Records at 210-335-6201.

  7. Raven

    I wrote a letter to an inmate a few days ago but I forgot to put the sid number on there but I put the inmates name and address. Does it still need the sid number? And how do I find out if the inmate had bail or not?

    • admin

      Neisha – Yes, letters can be typed.

      We would like to ask our readers to help spread the word about our website. Please recommend us to people you know. Thank you.

  8. Sarah

    Hi,. I sent a letter to my bf who was in the Bexar main adc jail with the location number, SID and his name. But during this time, he was transfered to the annex. What will happen to my letter?

    • admin

      Sarah – It will be sent to his new location as long as the sid number is on it.

      We would like to ask our readers to help spread the word about our website. Please recommend us to people you know. Thank you.

    • admin

      Kriss – You mean without the location? Yes, you can. Their instructions are to add the location, but they check it all the time anyway in case an inmate has been moved.

      We would like to ask our readers to help spread the word about our website. Please recommend us to people you know. Thank you.

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