By Jessica Leving
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A growing number of the nation’s jails are restricting inmates’ incoming mail to postcards to save money and bolster security.
The policy has been implemented this year at jails in Missouri, Kansas, Florida and Arizona, and it is to go into effect in at least one Oregon county lockup in January. At the Marion County Jail in Oregon, the postcard policy is expected to reduce annual mail-sorting expenses by at least half -- about $30,000, says Sheila Lorance, a lieutenant in the county sheriff’s office.
Elizabeth Alexander, director of the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, says the idea is “a very dumb policy.”
“The two things research shows correlate most with staying out of trouble after release are: maintaining contact with family and getting jobs,” she said. “There’s no way to do that through postcards.”
Gwyn Smith-Ingley, executive director of the American Jail Association, which represents more than 70,000 jail professionals, says although these policies cut costs and contraband items, limiting mail from loved ones “is contrary” to supporting people transitioning back to the community.
Legal challenges to the policies in Phoenix and Pasco County, Fla., have failed in the past two years. “There is a good argument that such a limitation doesn’t pass constitutional muster,” says David Hudson of the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum. He said the restriction ignores the senders’ First Amendment rights.
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