Why Prisons Are Banning Letters
The Nation, February 9, 2022: Why Prisons Are Banning Letters
“Not many people send letters through the post these days, but in prisons and jails across the country, the ritual of the mail call has long been a daily sacrament. When Dana Lomax-Williams was incarcerated in Pennsylvania several years ago, paper mail was a lifeline that connected her to her family on the outside. But now, as a free woman and the president of the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration–Delaware County, which advocates for the rights of people serving life sentences, she cannot return the favor to those still behind bars. In 2018, Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections (DOC) transitioned to a privately run scanning system that turns every piece of mail into a digital facsimile. This policy combined with a prison e-mail system run by another third-party contractor, she said, obstructs and undermines her communications. She said that the DOC’s photocopied scans of her paper mail are sometimes missing pages and her e-mails are redacted when they are received by her clients.”
Additional reading:
Slate, August 9, 2021: Prisons Are Increasingly Banning Physical Mail
Prison Policy Initiative, July 29, 2021: The Biden Administration must walk back the MailGuard program banning letters from home in federal prisons
Brennan Center for Justice, August 21, 2020: Protecting the Fundamental Right to Mail in Prison
