About Attorney Control Numbers
In an effort to keep contraband out of our state facilities, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections requires verification—known as an Attorney Control Number (ACN)—for any legal mail/privileged correspondence sent from attorneys and courts for incarcerated individuals.
All legal mail must include its DOC-issued Attorney Control Number as well as a secondary authentication number (valid for one week) on the outside of the envelope.
How to Obtain an Attorney Control Number
Any attorney, court, or non-attorney/court entity wishing to send privileged correspondence must fill out a control number request form to receive their respective control number.
Numbers will only be issued to attorneys who represent inmates or to verified court/court entities. Attorneys not representing inmates or other organizations that do not meet the criteria of a verified Court/Court Entity can utilize Smart Communications for all correspondence.
For Attorneys
The DOC requires all envelopes containing Privileged Correspondence from attorneys contain the following:
- Full return address with the law office name and address
- Addressed as follows:
Inmate Name/Number
Institution
Institution Legal Mail Address
- Attorney Control Number associated with the law office
- Secondary authentication number/time code issued for that week
For Courts/Court Entities
The DOC requires all envelopes containing Privileged Correspondence from courts contain the following:
- Full return address of the court/ court entity
- Addressed as follows:
Inmate Name/Number
Institution
Institution Legal Mail Address
- Court Control Number associated with the court/entity address
There is no secondary authentication number/time code associated with Court Control Numbers.
Under no circumstances should the Attorney Control Number, Court Control Number, Other Control Number and/or Secondary Authentication Number Appear anywhere other than the outside front of the envelope.
Privileged correspondence may only contain documents that originated from the sending attorney/court. Third party original documentation is strictly prohibited in legal mail.
Failure to comply with any of the above requirements may result in the rejection of the correspondence and revocation of the associated Attorney Control Number.
How to Obtain the Secondary Authentiation Number
A separate secondary authentication number will be emailed to each Attorney Control Number holder each week. The authentication number will be sent to the email address specified in the Request Form. Each Saturday at 10 p.m., a new secondary authentication number will be issued by the Department of Corrections. The authentication number provided is valid only for the following week.