How to write to someone at Columbia Correctional Institution
Personal letters for people at Columbia Correctional Institution go to Wisconsin's mail center below, not to the prison. Fill in the person's name and ID number where marked.
Checked against the department's own pages . How we check, and corrections
PERSONAL LETTERS GO TO
Dashed lines are for you to fill in, in the department's own words.
Address personal mail in this order: Name and DOC # / Columbia Correctional Institution / PO Box 189 / Phoenix, Maryland 21131. Personal mail goes to a central processing center, not straight to the facility.
Legal mail from lawyers and courts has its own address or rules: see the department's mail page.
- Where letters go
- To a department-wide mail center, not the prison
- What happens to them
- The department doesn't say
- What they get
- The department doesn't say
“Personal mail sent through the US Postal Service must be sent to TextBehind for processing.” Department source
Street address (not for letters unless the department says so): 2925 Columbia Drive, Portage, WI 53901-0950
“Personal mail sent through the US Postal Service must be sent to TextBehind for processing.”
No one at Columbia Correctional Institution is listed yet. Know someone there who wants mail? List them for $50.
CorrLinks
You start it from outside.
- Go to corrlinks.com (or the CorrLinks app), agree to the terms and create an account.
- Fund your account with a Visa or Mastercard credit card.
- Add the person to your address book using their state ID number.
- Write and send your message. Facility staff review it and deliver it on their schedule.
Wisconsin: Transition state: CorrLinks is only for people still on the older ATG tablet (messages only, no photos); people with the new ICS tablet use a GettingOut account. $0.15 per message either way. After a site switches to ICS tablets, CorrLinks messages are not received or refunded.
GettingOut
Either of you can send the request; both accept.
- Create an account at gettingout.com or in the GettingOut app, then activate it from the email they send you.
- Add the person as a contact. In some states the person inside can instead send you an email invitation that links to GettingOut.
- The person inside must accept your contact request (or you accept theirs) before you can message.
- Deposit funds into your Friends & Family account, then send messages from the Message tab.
Wisconsin: For people with the new ICS tablet: "Both parties must choose to accept the contact request before messaging will occur." $0.15 per message; three free weekly messages.
Questions
What is the mailing address for Columbia Correctional Institution?
Personal mail goes to the department's mail center: PIOC full name (first and last), DOC Number, Columbia Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 189, Phoenix, MD 21131.
Is mail scanned at Columbia Correctional Institution?
Wisconsin's pages don't say whether letters are scanned or copied. Check its mail page.
Can I message someone at Columbia Correctional Institution electronically?
Wisconsin uses CorrLinks and GettingOut. On CorrLinks, you make an account, add the person by name and ID number, and pay per message. On GettingOut, either side can send the contact request, and both have to accept it.
Can someone at Columbia Correctional Institution be listed on a pen pal site?
We found no rule in Wisconsin's published policies against it, and normal mail rules still apply. Rules change; the department's page is the final word.
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we fix it from the department's page. How we check.
Sources: Columbia Correctional Institution page, Wisconsin mail rules, read 2026-10-07. Rules change; the department's page is the final word. Find someone: official inmate locator.
How to write your first letter · All Wisconsin prisons and rules