Bill lets poor inmates get free stamps to mail letters
H.R. 10129 — Stamps for Staying Connected Act of 2026 · Filed by Grace Meng (D-NY) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 20, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the Bureau of Prisons to give free stamps to inmates who cannot buy them. Each inmate can get up to 5 stamps per week for regular mail. Legal mail has no stamp limit. Congress must set aside money to pay for the stamps.
Who it affects
Inmates without money can now send mail to family and lawyers. The Bureau of Prisons must set up a system to hand out stamps.
One thing to notice
Legal mail gets unlimited stamps, but regular mail is capped at 5 per week. The bill puts court access ahead of other mail.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Aug 20, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 20, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Bureau of Prisons — The government agency that runs federal prisons and makes rules for inmates.
- legal mail — Letters to lawyers, courts, or government offices about a case or legal problem.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,343 characters) on Aug 24, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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