Legal correspondence

Last updated: 19 Dec 2025

Legal correspondence can be sent via mail or email (if the below requirements are met) to the prison where your client is located.

Mail

Legal correspondence can be sent to your client via the postal service. You can find prison addresses from our locations page.

Email support

We are not resourced to provide an administrative function to support emails to people in prison.

The email support for legal correspondence is provided for urgent legal correspondence from lawyers that cannot be delivered in person, mailed, or couriered within a court-imposed timeframe.

Urgent is defined as a person in prison having a court-imposed deadline to meet (e.g., a court appearance or filing deadline) within the next seven calendar days.

Email correspondence requirements

1. Emails must be from a verifiable email address linked to the lawyer’s firm or practice. Staff may verify the email address through New Zealand Law Society registry or the relevant law firm website.
2. Emails must include the subject heading: Legal Correspondence: Prisoner Surname, First Name and PRN; unit (optional).
3. The body of the email acts as the cover letter that would normally be included for physical mail, and there is no need for a separate cover letter to be attached. The body of the email should not contain any legally privileged material. The email should state pursuant to Section 110(2) of the Corrections Act 2004 that;
   • The legal adviser is acting in a professional capacity in respect of the prisoner.
   • The attached material is legally privileged and relates to the prisoners’ legal affairs (if this is the case).
   • the reason for the urgency and why the documentation cannot be delivered as hard copy mail.
   • what is being requested (for example, the attachment is to be printed and delivered to their client).
4. If you need your correspondence delivered to your client quicker than 3 working days, your reason for this must be explained in the body of the e-mail. Our staff will try and facilitate this as best they can, dependent on operational requirements.
5. Attachments must not together exceed 20 double-sided A4-sized printed pages (i.e. 40 pages in total).

Things you need to know

• The Department of Corrections has created this process to protect legal privilege and will take the upmost care to do so, there may be times during this process where the legal correspondence is inadvertently seen by staff. By using this service, you acknowledge the potential risk associated with it, and if you have any concerns about using this service, then you should use the postal or courier system instead.
• If the above requirements are not met, your email will be deleted and you will be informed of what requirement has not been met. You will need to send a new e-mail that meets the requirements for processing.
• If you e-mail a prison site and your client is not at that site, you will be provided with the correct e-mail address. Your e-mail will be deleted and you will need to send a new e-mail to the to the correct prison site.
• Your client will receive the printed e-mailed legal correspondence no more than 3 working days after we receive e-mail where it is reasonably practicable.
• You are encouraged to raise concerns with staff at the relevant site. Any staff concerns about adherence to the process will be discussed with you.
• Prison sites have varying levels of access to Visiting Justice or Justice of the Peace (JP) resources, and this may impact timeliness of requests requiring the swearing/affirming/witnessing of documentation. Please work with your local prison site to check their process to arrange this.
• If you require confirmation that your client has received the legal correspondence, staff will endeavour to facilitate this request.

Prison E-mail addresses for legal correspondence