Cite as: 534 U. S. 161 (2002)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
it has no difficulty delivering the message in a manner that insures receipt." Weng v. United States, 137 F. 3d 709, 715 (1998). Similarly, the federal forfeiting agency should encounter no difficulty in "secur[ing] the [BOP's] cooperation in assuring that the notice will be delivered to the [prisoner] and that a reliable record of the delivery will be created." Ibid.
A further factor counsels care to inform a prisoner that his Government is proceeding against him or his property. A prisoner receives his mail only through the combined good offices of two bureaucracies which he can neither monitor nor control: The postal service must move the mail from the sender to the prison, and the prison must then move the mail from the prison gates to the prisoner's hands. That the first system can be relied upon does not imply that the second is acceptable. See United States v. One Toshiba Color Television, 213 F. 3d 147, 154 (CA3 2000); accord, Weng, 137 F. 3d, at 715; cf. Houston v. Lack, 487 U. S. 266, 271 (1988) (Court recognized that "the pro se prisoner has no choice but to entrust the forwarding of [mail] to prison authorities whom he cannot control or supervise and who may have every incentive to delay"; Court therefore held that pro se prisoner's notice of appeal must be regarded as "filed" when delivered to prison authorities for mailing). In the cases in which we indicated that mail notice would be sufficient, by contrast, receipt hinged only upon the dependability of the postal service, "upon which prudent men will ordinarily rely in the conduct of important affairs." Greene, 456 U. S., at 455; see also Mullane, 339 U. S., at 319 ("[T]he mails today are recognized as an efficient and inexpensive means of communication."); United States Postal Service, 2000 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations 91 (Table 5.1) (on-time delivery rate of first class mail between 87% and 94%).
The majority asserts that "[t]he Government here carried its burden of showing the . . . procedures . . . used to give notice." Ante, at 168. As to the prison to prisoner trans-
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