Fax and Prison: Visits, Probation, Inmate Mail

Short answer: an application for a permis de visite (visiting permit) is filed with the examining magistrate (for a remand prisoner) or with the prison governor (for a sentenced prisoner), using a form and identity documents — not by fax. The prison world, however, remains one of the last places where fax works every single day: greffes pénitentiaires (prison registry offices), services parloirs (visiting-room desks), SPIP (prison probation and rehabilitation services), unités sanitaires (prison health units) and services socio-éducatifs (social and educational services) almost all have an active fax number, because workstations inside prisons are deliberately cut off from the internet and postal mail takes three days. Fax therefore serves one purpose only: getting a supporting document, a certificate, a medical note or a missing paper to arrive today when a visit, a leave permit, a sentence adjustment or a probation measure depends on it. Golden rule: you fax a document into an existing file, never an initial application, and you always duplicate it through the official channel.

Why fax survives in the prison service

The direction de l'administration pénitentiaire (Prison Service Directorate, DAP) runs around 185 facilities and about a hundred probation services. Three constraints explain the longevity of fax in this environment:

• Prisons are off-network. For security reasons, the services in direct contact with detained people work on closed networks. There is no public online service allowing you to add a document to the file of an incarcerated person, unlike what the CAF (Family Allowance Fund), the tax authorities or the ANTS (National Agency for Secure Documents) offer.
• Deadlines are measured in hours, not weeks. A visit is booked a few days ahead; a leave permit is decided by the commission d'application des peines (sentence enforcement board, CAP); a transfer can happen overnight. Postal mail arrives after the decision.
• There are many people involved. The same file moves between the registry office (penal status), the SPIP (probation service, for support), the visiting-room desk (visits), the work and training service, the health unit (care), and sometimes the juge de l'application des peines (sentence enforcement judge, JAP) at the local court. Each has its own number, and often its own fax.

The result: when a lawyer, a social worker or an employer needs to prove something quickly, the instinct is still a fax followed by a phone call.

What goes through by fax, and what does not

You have to distinguish the application (which follows a formal procedure) from the supporting document (which completes a file already opened).

Above all, remember the last row: fax is never a channel for correspondence with a detained person. Mail is subject to the monitoring laid down in the code pénitentiaire (Prison Code); a fax sent to a service does not give access to the prisoner. Those who try waste time and clog up an already overloaded switchboard.

The five situations where fax saves a deadline

1. A visiting permit held up by one document

The application has been filed, and the visiting-room desk is asking for proof of family ties (birth certificate, family record book, civil partnership certificate) or a more legible ID. Two options: start another postal mailing and wait ten days, or fax the document the same day, quoting the detained person's name, their prison number and the permit file reference. Prepare a clean cover sheet: our fax cover sheet generator produces a usable header, and a dedicated article explains the template that stands as evidence.

2. A job offer before the sentence enforcement board

Boards meet on fixed dates. An employer offering a contract to someone nearing the end of their sentence must send the letter before the meeting, otherwise the case is pushed to the following month. The probation service accepts a fax, then the original. Small-business owners who no longer own a fax machine use an online service, or scan the letter with a portable scanner with automatic document feeder before sending it. White 80 gsm printer paper gives far sharper contrast than greyish recycled paper.

3. A family emergency

Hospitalisation, death, birth: the social and educational service or the probation service can arrange an exceptional leave permit, an extra phone call, or have bad news delivered with support. A fax from the hospital, the doctor or the funeral director is handled the same day, whereas a letter would arrive after the burial. Always give a phone number where you can be reached on the cover sheet: the service almost always calls back to check.

4. An imminent transfer or release

When someone moves to another facility, documents in transit go missing. The registry office of the new facility will generally accept a fax from the old one, or from the lawyer, to reconstitute an appointment letter, a proof of address or a care arrangement. The same applies on release: a health insurance appointment, an accommodation address, a benefits claim. On social entitlements after release, the route is the same as the one described in our article Fax and the French health insurance fund: sending a file without losing entitlements.

5. Community supervision going off track

Not everyone is coming out of a prison: the probation service also supervises people on suspended sentences with probation, community service, electronic tagging and parole. Proof of attendance at work, a training certificate or a sick note explaining a missed appointment can be faxed to the probation service the same day. An unexplained missed appointment is reported to the sentence enforcement judge and can trigger revocation: here, the timestamp on the transmission report has real value.

Finding the right number — and the right service

This is the most thankless part. Prison facility listings publish a phone number, sometimes a fax, rarely both up to date. Three reliable sources:

• justice.gouv.fr, section "Annuaire des établissements pénitentiaires" (Directory of prison facilities): address, phone number, visiting hours, and the name of the regional directorate (DISP, interregional prison directorate) it reports to.
• The website of the relevant regional directorate (Paris, Lille, Rennes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille, Lyon, Dijon, Strasbourg, Overseas): contact details for the departmental probation services, often including fax numbers.
• The court registry or the office of the sentence enforcement judge, when the document concerns a judicial decision rather than day-to-day prison life.

Always call before you fax. Ask three things: "Is this fax number still active?", "Which service collects it?", "Do I also need to send the original?". Note the answer, the name of the officer and the time — our guide Finding the right fax number for a public body sets out the verification method, and the directory of official fax numbers brings together the public lines on record.

One precaution specific to this sector: the same facility may have one fax at the registry office, one at the visiting-room desk and one at the health unit, the latter reporting to a hospital rather than to the prison service. Sending a medical certificate to the registry office means circulating it where it has no business being. Choose the recipient before you dial the number.

Preparing a transmission that arrives legible

Fax is still low-resolution black and white. In a context where a poorly legible ID can get a visiting permit refused, preparation matters as much as the sending.

• Scan at 300 dpi, black and white, A4. Above that, fax degrades the image. Below it, official stamps turn into smudges. A small compact document scanner is more than enough for IDs and certificates.
• One document per transmission, each with its own cover sheet. Ten-page piles mixing three different requests end up on the wrong desk.
• Repeat the full identity: surname, first name, date of birth, prison number, facility, cell number if known, and the subject in one line.
• Avoid highlighters and photocopies of photocopies. A fine-tip black pen stays more legible than a thick marker after fax compression.
• Number the pages ("1/4", "2/4"): it is the only way to prove a page is missing on arrival.

If your transmissions come back blurred or cut off, the full method is in Illegible fax on arrival: preparing a PDF that gets through. To combine several documents into a single file, the Build a PDF file tool does the job with no software needed.

Keeping the proof, because you will need it

In prison matters, the stakes are not a court case: it is being able to say, three weeks later, "the document was sent on the 12th at 9:14 a.m." So keep:

1. The timestamped transmission report (date, time, number dialled, number of pages, "OK" status).
2. The exact PDF you sent, in a folder named by date and recipient.
3. A record of the prior phone call and the name of the officer.
4. The postal receipt if you also sent it by registered mail.

One elastic folder per case and a lever arch file are enough to keep six months of follow-up without losing anything. On retention periods, see Archiving your fax receipts: for how long?.

Finally, be careful about confidentiality. A prison file contains sensitive data: penal status, health, family situation. Fax from a workstation that is not shared, do not leave originals lying around, and if you receive faxes, prefer a virtual number that drops them into a protected inbox rather than a machine in a corridor.

No fax machine? Three realistic solutions

1. Sending online from a computer or a phone. You upload a PDF, enter the French number, and receive a transmission report by email. It is the fastest option when the deadline is today: the fax sending form asks for nothing more than a file and a number.
2. A physical outlet. Some post offices, tobacconists, copy shops and town hall front desks still send faxes by the page. Prices and limits are detailed in Where can you send a fax without a fax machine in France?.
3. A Maison France Services (France Services one-stop public service centre). Staff there help you scan, print and send. Useful when you have neither a scanner nor a printer — see France Services: getting help to fax a file.

If you regularly support an incarcerated relative, a small monochrome laser multifunction printer pays for itself in a few months and saves you the back-and-forth, while a practical guide to prisoners' rights helps you avoid confusing the procedures. Family support associations — UFRAMA (National Union of Prison Visitors' Reception Facilities), Génepi (the student prison education network), the local branches of Secours catholique (Catholic Relief) — are a useful complement: they know the habits of each facility, including which fax numbers actually work.

Frequently asked questions

Can you obtain a visiting permit by fax?

No. An application for a visiting permit follows a written procedure with a form, passport photos, a copy of an ID document and proof of your relationship with the detained person. It goes to the magistrate handling the case for a remand prisoner, and to the prison governor for a sentenced prisoner. Fax is only for completing a file already filed, and only if the service has agreed to it over the phone.

Can you write to a detained person by fax?

No. Correspondence goes by post and remains subject to the monitoring laid down in the Prison Code. A fax sent to an administrative service of the facility will not be delivered as personal mail.

Do all probation services have a fax number?

Most still keep one, but it is not always published, nor collected several times a day. Call the office, ask them to confirm the number and which service collects it, and ask whether a departmental email address is now preferred. In some areas, fax has been replaced by a functional mailbox.

Is a transmission report enough to prove you sent something?

It proves that a call went through to a number, at a given time, for a given number of pages. That is useful prima facie evidence, not a signature. For a decisive document ahead of a sentence enforcement board or a hearing before the sentence enforcement judge, back it up with registered mail or go through your lawyer.

What if the number is busy all day?

Try again at spaced intervals, then switch channel: call the switchboard to get another number, send it via your lawyer, drop it at the facility's reception during opening hours, or send it to the probation service rather than the registry office. Note every attempt: a record of your efforts counts when you have to explain a delay.

In summary

• Formal applications — visiting permits, sentence adjustments, requests to the sentence enforcement judge — cannot be made by fax.
• Supporting documents for a file already open, on the other hand, go through perfectly well: proof of accommodation, job offer, medical certificate, proof of family ties.
• One facility = several fax numbers: registry office, visiting-room desk, health unit, probation service. Pick the right service before dialling.
• Call before sending, check the line is active and collected, note the officer's name and the time.
• Prepare a clean PDF: 300 dpi, black and white, A4, one document per transmission, numbered pages, identity and prison number repeated.
• Keep the transmission report, the PDF you sent and the record of the call: that is what lets you prove you met the deadline.
• Without a fax machine, three routes: online sending, a local outlet, or a France Services centre.