Policy Glossary

Legal Mail

Correspondence to or from: (a) Any court, the Washington State Bar Association, the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board, Washington State Department of Enterprise Services Office of Risk Management, Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) auditors certified by the United States Department of Justice, Headquarters PREA Coordinator and/or Just Detention International; (b) The President or Vice President of the United States, members of the United States Congress, embassies and consulates, the United States Department of Justice, state Attorney General's Office, governors, members of the state legislature, and law enforcement officers in their official capacity; (c) Attorneys of record in court cases that have been filed in a local, state, or federal court; and (d) Attorneys receiving/sending correspondence with offenders concerning legal advice, including established groups of attorneys representing the offender (e.g., American Civil Liberties Union, Disability Rights Washington, legal service corporations, public defender associations). To be considered and therefore handled as "legal mail" the correspondence must be clearly marked "legal mail" on the outside front of the envelope, and must have a mailing address or return address which clearly indicates that the mail is to or from one of the above listed sources.