Terms, Privacy, Authorization, and Safety Rules

1. Eligibility

LockedIn Letters is intended for adults age 18 or older.

A profile application may be completed by the incarcerated person, a family member or friend, authorized staff, or a legally authorized representative.

A person submitting on someone else's behalf must have authority to provide the application information and photographs. The incarcerated participant must separately authorize publication as required by the approval process, unless LockedIn Letters has reviewed documentation establishing that a legally authorized representative has authority to provide the required authorization on the participant's behalf.

A Power of Attorney or other representative designation does not automatically establish authority for every LockedIn Letters action. The scope of the document or legal authority must cover the authorization being provided. LockedIn Letters may request and privately review reasonable documentation before accepting authorization from a representative.

Applying is free. Submitting an application does not guarantee acceptance, publication, correspondence, replies, or any other outcome.

Current profile options are:

• Founding Free: Three reserved spaces remain for previously confirmed participants, and this option is closed to new public applicants. Previously confirmed participants may complete their applications. An approved Founding Free listing may remain published for up to one year.
• Founding Pilot: Closed to new applications. Previously accepted Founding Pilot participants retain the price and term already approved for them.
• Standard Profile: $15 for one year and available now.
• Enhanced Profile: $45 for one year and available now.

New pricing applies to newly accepted applications under the current Standard and Enhanced structure. Existing accepted participants are not retroactively repriced, and historical Founding Pilot records and terms remain in effect.

Paid-profile payment is requested only after an application is accepted and before profile writing assistance and preparation begin. Profiles and add-ons do not renew automatically.

Current profile information is available on the Pricing page. Applications may be submitted through Apply to List an Inmate Profile.

2. Authorization before publication

Direct participant authorization remains the normal process. LockedIn Letters requires appropriate participant authorization before publishing a profile.

The participant must have the opportunity to review and approve the final profile wording and photographs before publication. Material changes to an approved profile may require renewed participant review and approval.

When authorization is provided by a legally authorized representative rather than directly by the participant, LockedIn Letters may require documentation showing that the representative has authority to provide that specific authorization. Authority to submit an application or manage one matter does not automatically authorize profile publication, photograph use, social-media promotion, a Birthday Shout-Out, or public birthday-date disclosure.

A financial, healthcare, limited, or other Power of Attorney does not automatically authorize profile publication or promotional use. The actual scope of the legal authority controls. Representative documentation and review records remain private and are not published.

The existing separate Birthday Shout-Out promotion, display-name/profile-link, photograph, and optional birthday-date authorization requirements remain in effect unless reviewed legal authority specifically establishes authority for that action.

Ordinary visitors may share a link to a profile that is already public. Sharing an existing public link does not constitute official LockedIn Letters social-media promotion and does not authorize LockedIn Letters to create promotional content using a participant's name or photograph.

Social-media promotion requires permission. Official LockedIn Letters promotion requires the applicable participant authorization. Birthday Shout-Out authorization is separated into:

• Authorization for the Birthday Shout-Out promotion.
• Authorization to use the approved display name and public profile link.
• Authorization to use the selected approved public photograph when a photograph will appear.
• Optional authorization to display the participant's birthday month and day.

Birthday month-and-day disclosure is optional and off by default. Private birthday information, an application date of birth, or general social-media consent does not authorize public birthday-date disclosure. A birth year is never published in a Birthday Shout-Out.

3. What the listing provides

LockedIn Letters charges for profile preparation, publication, and optional visibility features. Fees do not purchase correspondence or guarantee attention, replies, friendship, or any other outcome.

Profile listings may include approved public information such as the participant's display name, age, current incarceration state, public preview, structured interests or tags, approved primary public photograph, and public profile URL.

Complete approved stories, correspondence information, and any additional photographs designated for registered writers may require a free writer account. Correctional identification numbers, mailing addresses, facility messaging details, and protected correspondence instructions are not part of the public profile preview.

Available visibility add-ons include:

• Rotation Boost: $15 for 30 days.
• Birthday Shout-Out: $10 for one Friday profile-promotion post per participant.
• Homepage Takeover: $35 for 72 hours, subject to availability.

Rotation Boost provides an eligible Standard profile with temporary eligibility in the same fair-chance homepage rotation pool used by Enhanced profiles. It does not guarantee priority, position, a specific number of appearances, or more frequent turns. It is unavailable while a profile has active Enhanced rotation eligibility and cannot shorten or replace that Enhanced term.

An active Enhanced Profile includes one Birthday Shout-Out during its one-year term at no additional charge. The included Birthday Shout-Out has an effective price of $0. Additional Birthday Shout-Outs during the same Enhanced term are $10 each. Founding Free, Founding Pilot, Standard, and profiles with an unconfirmed package type do not receive the Enhanced included benefit.

Multiple participants may receive separate Birthday Shout-Out posts on the same Friday. Birthday Shout-Outs are not exclusive and do not interfere with Homepage Takeover placement.

A Homepage Takeover provides one eligible approved profile with the exclusive main homepage banner for 72 hours. Only one Homepage Takeover may be active at a time. A requested date is not guaranteed or reserved until availability, eligibility, and applicable consent requirements have been reviewed. Activating a new takeover cannot replace or shorten another active takeover.

Add-ons are requested through a private, profile-specific link issued to the original submitter. Private links are subject to expiration, one-use protections, published-profile eligibility, authorization requirements, and manual review.

Preferred add-on dates are nonbinding scheduling preferences. An add-on request does not reserve a date, create an invoice, collect payment, or activate an add-on automatically. Payment occurs only after review, and activation is performed manually.

See the Pricing page for current package and add-on details.

4. Facility rules

Writers and participants are responsible for following all applicable correctional-agency, facility, court, postal, and correspondence-provider rules.

Mailing addresses, recipient-identification requirements, permitted materials, screening procedures, digital-provider availability, contact restrictions, and other correspondence requirements vary by facility and jurisdiction. A rule used by one facility or provider should not be treated as a nationwide rule.

LockedIn Letters helps adults discover reviewed profiles. It does not receive, carry, forward, monitor, print, or deliver private correspondence.

After choosing a profile, writers must communicate independently through USPS or a provider approved by the responsible correctional agency or facility. LockedIn Letters does not own, operate, control, or guarantee access to USPS, JPay, Securus, ViaPath/GettingOut, CorrLinks, or another correspondence system.

For practical correspondence guidance, review How to Write to an Inmate.

5. Prohibited content and activity

LockedIn Letters may reject, edit, hold, unpublish, or remove profile or website content that violates applicable law, site rules, participant authorization, correctional restrictions, or safety requirements.

Profile and website content may not be used to:

• Publish unauthorized private or protected information.
• Facilitate threats, harassment, coercion, fraud, impersonation, or unlawful activity.
• Circumvent court orders, victim-contact restrictions, communication suspensions, facility rules, or provider restrictions.
• Carry messages, money, photographs, or other materials between parties when the activity is prohibited or unauthorized.
• Misrepresent authorization, identity, profile information, photographs, package eligibility, or payment status.
• Solicit passwords, account credentials, banking access, identification documents, or other sensitive information.
• Submit photographs or personal information without the required permission.

These content rules do not mean that every private request for financial assistance is automatically fraudulent. LockedIn Letters does not monitor private correspondence. Writers should evaluate conduct, pressure, deception, threats, suspicious payment instructions, and other circumstances rather than treating incarceration itself as a warning sign.

6. Review and verification

Every profile application is reviewed before publication. Review may include eligibility, authorization, profile wording, photographs, facility information, policy compliance, package availability, and other applicable requirements.

New profiles and material changes are checked against available official records as part of the review process. This check supports profile accuracy but is not a comprehensive background investigation or guarantee of identity, honesty, safety, correspondence, replies, or future conduct.

LockedIn Letters cannot independently verify every statement made in an application, approved profile, or private correspondence. Profile review does not replace a writer's judgment, facility verification, safety precautions, or compliance with applicable rules.

Writer registration requires email verification, a self-reported date of birth, and adult confirmation. LockedIn Letters does not independently verify every writer's identity or age through government identification.

7. Privacy notice

LockedIn Letters separates approved public profile information from protected correspondence information, applicant information, administrative records, and account information.

Public profile information may include approved:

• Display name.
• Age.
• Current incarceration state.
• Public preview description.
• Structured interests or tags.
• Primary public profile photograph.
• Public profile URL.
• Public placement or ordering information.

A free registered-writer account may be required to view:

• Complete approved profile stories.
• Correspondence information.
• Additional photographs designated for registered writers.

Correctional identification numbers, mailing addresses, facility messaging details, protected correspondence instructions, applicant contact information, authorization records, representative documentation, administrative notes, payment records, and private workflow information are not published merely because a profile exists.

Writer accounts and browser information

Writer registration uses email verification, a self-reported date of birth, and adult confirmation. Account and session information is used to provide registered access and protect restricted profile content.

LockedIn Letters uses an essential session cookie named ll_writer_session to keep verified writers signed in. The cookie uses Secure and HttpOnly protections, is not used for advertising or cross-site tracking, and expires after 30 days or is removed when the writer signs out.

LockedIn Letters may use a first-party lil_activity cookie to help prevent duplicate activity, rotation, view, or analytics events from being counted repeatedly. This cookie may remain for up to one year.

LockedIn Letters uses Google Analytics to understand general website traffic, page views, referral sources, device types, and interactions with the site. LockedIn Letters does not intentionally send profile application answers, private authorization records, correspondence details, representative documentation, or writer account information to Google Analytics.

Incomplete profile applications may be stored locally in the applicant's browser through the draft feature. A local draft remains on that browser until it is submitted, cleared, or removed through normal browser-storage controls. A saved draft is not a submitted application. Photographs must be selected again after a refresh.

Private participant birthday information

LockedIn Letters may privately store a participant's birthday month and day for administrative birthday reminders. When a valid linked application date of birth exists, the month and day may be copied into the private administrative record. The original application date of birth remains unchanged.

Private birthday information is not included in public profile data, public APIs, public HTML, search metadata, structured data, or social content merely because it is stored administratively. That private record does not authorize a Birthday Shout-Out or public birthday disclosure.

Private owner reminders may identify an approaching birthday, profile status, package status, Enhanced Birthday Shout-Out eligibility, request status, and original-submitter contact information. A reminder is an opportunity for the owner to review the situation.

A private reminder does not automatically:

• Contact the participant or original submitter.
• Create a Birthday Shout-Out request.
• Record participant consent.
• Reserve a date.
• Create an invoice or collect payment.
• Activate an add-on.
• Publish a birthday or any other information.

Storing a private birthday month and day does not authorize a Birthday Shout-Out or public birthday disclosure.

8. Photographs

A submitter must have permission to provide every photograph included with an application or add-on request.

The participant must approve the photographs selected for publication. A photograph that includes another person, a child, identifying documentation, protected information, or content that raises authorization or safety concerns may be rejected or require additional confirmation.

A photograph approved for a public profile is not automatically authorized for every promotional use. When a Birthday Shout-Out will use a photograph, authorization for the selected approved public photograph is required separately.

Additional photographs designated for registered writers remain protected by the applicable registration controls. LockedIn Letters does not make protected photographs public merely to improve search visibility, social sharing, or promotional reach.

9. Corrections, holds, and removal

LockedIn Letters may correct, hold, unpublish, or remove a profile when necessary to address authorization, accuracy, safety, policy, payment, expiration, facility-status, or legal concerns.

A participant or authorized submitter may contact LockedIn Letters to request a correction, review, hold, or removal. Requests are evaluated using available authorization and administrative records.

A report that a participant has been released from custody or has died does not automatically change the participant's profile. LockedIn Letters reviews reasonably available information before treating the report as confirmed. LockedIn Letters may place a profile or promotional activity on hold during that review when necessary to protect accuracy, authorization, privacy, or safety.

When release is confirmed, the participant is no longer eligible for an active incarcerated-person profile. LockedIn Letters will unpublish the profile, remove it from active discovery and promotional placement, and stop future inmate-profile visibility add-ons and promotional birthday reminders. The profile will not automatically be converted into a released-person or reentry profile.

When a participant's death is confirmed, LockedIn Letters will unpublish the profile, remove it from active discovery, end promotional placement, and stop future Birthday Shout-Out activity and promotional birthday reminders. The profile will not automatically be converted into a memorial page.

LockedIn Letters may preserve private administrative, authorization, payment, complaint, verification, and historical records that are reasonably needed for legal, safety, accounting, operational, or audit purposes. Verification documents and private release-or-death review information are not published.

When a paid profile or add-on ends early because release or death is confirmed, any paid but undelivered service may be reviewed manually. LockedIn Letters does not automatically promise a refund, credit, or prorated payment solely because a profile ends early.

Submitting a request does not guarantee a particular correction, hold, removal, investigation, response time, or outcome. Immediate action may be taken when LockedIn Letters determines that it is necessary to protect privacy, authorization, safety, or legal compliance.

An expired, held, unpublished, removed, or otherwise promotion-ineligible profile is not eligible for promotional birthday reminders or active visibility add-ons.

10. Safety

Incarceration itself is not a warning sign. Safety decisions should be based on conduct, pressure, deception, threats, account behavior, suspicious requests, boundary violations, and the surrounding circumstances.

Writers should decide what personal information they are comfortable sharing while following facility requirements for sender identification and return addresses. Physical and digital correspondence may be screened, inspected, copied, or monitored under applicable correctional-agency, facility, postal, and provider rules.

A financial request is not automatically fraud, and a writer is never obligated to provide money. Before sending funds, writers should independently verify payment instructions through the responsible correctional agency or facility's official process. Do not rely only on instructions received through correspondence.

Requests involving gift cards, account credentials, banking access, payment-app transfers, cryptocurrency, third-party transactions, or pressure to receive or move money should be evaluated carefully. Suspected fraud, threats, coercion, compromised accounts, or immediate danger may require reporting outside LockedIn Letters.

LockedIn Letters profile review does not guarantee safety, identity, honesty, correspondence, replies, or future conduct.

Review the complete Prison Pen Pal Safety guide for practical privacy, boundary, financial-request, warning-sign, account-security, and reporting guidance.

11. How to report a complaint or concern

Questions, corrections, complaints, profile concerns, authorization issues, and requests for review may be emailed to support@lockedinletters.com.

Include enough information to identify the profile or issue, such as the public display name, profile URL, relevant dates, and a concise explanation. Do not email passwords, banking credentials, Social Security numbers, government-identification documents, representative documents, or other unnecessary sensitive information.

If available and appropriate, preserve relevant messages, transaction information, account notices, screenshots, postal markings, or other records before blocking or reporting. This is practical reporting guidance and not universal legal advice.

Depending on the issue, a person may also need to contact:

• The responsible correctional agency or facility.
• The applicable correspondence provider.
• A financial institution or payment service.
• The U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
• The Federal Trade Commission or IdentityTheft.gov.
• The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
• Local law enforcement.
• Emergency services when there is immediate danger.

Reporting an issue to LockedIn Letters does not replace reporting it to the appropriate facility, provider, financial institution, postal authority, law-enforcement agency, or emergency service.

LockedIn Letters does not guarantee a response time, investigation, correction, profile hold, removal, refund, provider action, facility action, or other outcome.

Additional common questions are answered in the Frequently Asked Questions.

12. Policy changes

LockedIn Letters may revise these terms, privacy practices, authorization requirements, safety rules, package conditions, add-on procedures, or other policies as the service develops or legal and operational requirements change.

Policy changes may apply to current listings, accounts, packages, and add-ons when necessary for authorization, privacy, safety, legal compliance, payment administration, or site operation. Changes are not limited to the Founding Pilot.

A revised effective or last-updated date will be posted when changes are published. Material changes may require renewed participant, submitter, applicant, or account-holder action or authorization when appropriate.

No policy change will convert private information into public information or create consent for a promotional use without the required authorization.