Reference by Mail
A Service for Library Users Who Are Incarcerated
Sacramento Public Library Reference by Mail Service staff are happy to answer reference questions for anyone incarcerated at any of the facilities listed below. In order to offer you the best service possible, we ask that senders follow Rules and Guidelines below. Letters are answered in the order they are received, and questions are answered in the order they are written. Thank you for your patience; limited staff support may result in delayed response times, and additional letters will not be answered or returned. Please do not send anything you want returned.
Sacramento Public Library
Attn: Reference by Mail
828 I Street, Sacramento CA 95814
1.
Limits: We will respond to a maximum of 2 letters per send, per month, answering a maximum of 3 questions per letter. We will respond with a maximum of 10 double-sided pages of information at a time. As a result, we may not be able to send all of the information you request. Due to limitations on staff time, we will send a maximum of 20 images per response.
Please do not send the same question more than once.
2.
Violations: If any part of your letter requests inappropriate information or images, or violates these Rules and Guidelines, no part of the letter will be answered.
3.
We will: a) provide a list of pen pal organizations; b) send contact information for celebrities, politicians, and other public figures; c) provide contact information for organizations from which you can request books, magazines, newspapers, etc.
4.
We will not: a) contact a third party for you; b) send mail or correspondence on your behalf; c) act as a pen pal or contact a pen pal service for you; d) send any adult materials, including images, artwork, text, or the name of companies that produce adult materials; e) retrieve information or images from social media; f) send information promoting or portraying violence or the use of weapons, including lists or images of weapons or ammunition, or any information pertaining to acquiring weapons; g) send directions or maps (except for constellations or fictional worlds); h) send information about fictional or coded languages (ex: Klingon); i) send contact information for or do internet searches about private individuals; j) perform searches for the patron about themselves or other inmates; k) send reponses to non-carceral facility addresses; l) send images of anyone younger than 18 years old.
5.
Legal or Medical Advice/Opinions: We will not send legal or medical advice or opinions of any kind. We will provide standard definitions of legal words and phrases, documented information on codes, regulations, Supreme Court decisions, etc., when requested by specific name or code number
only. We will provide basic overviews of medical diagnoses (symptoms, tests, treatments, etc.) when requested by specific name
only.
6.
Copyright: Regarding materials for which copyright is a concern, we can send a maximum of 10 double-sided copied pages; we reserve the right to impose a lower limit on number of pages sent.
7.
Restrictions: One warning will be sent when a request is made in violation of these Rules and Guidelines. Following this warning, any future violations may result in a period of restriction of one to twelve months, and can reach permanent restriction for multiple violations.
Facilities Served by SPL RBM (For information on where to send letters for facilities in the state of California not listed below, please email us at [email protected].)
- Atascadero State Hospital
- CA Medical Facility (Vacaville)
- CA State Prison Sacramento
- CA State Prison Solano (Vacaville)
- Calipatria State Prison
- Folsom State Prison
- High Desert State Prison (Susanville)
- Mule Creek State Prison (Ione)
- Sacramento County Jail
- San Bernardino County High Desert Detention Center
- Santa Clara County Jail
- Shasta County Jail
- Stanislaus County Jail
- US Penitentiary Atwater
- Yuba County Jail
Rev: 5/6/2025