New Prison Mail Policies Threaten Newsletters by and for Incarcerated People

On September 3, Illinois prison officials moved — by emergency rule — to replace most physical mail with scanned copies, though a key legislative panel has already pushed back. At the same time, New York is installing mail scanners in prisons, raising alarms about privacy and attorney-client privilege. Texas has already shifted to “digital mail,” where letters are scanned and delivered on tablets or as photocopies. Though billed as a way to reduce contraband, these “paperless” policies constrict how people read, write, and organize behind prison walls.

Protecting incarcerated people’s access to physical mail and inside-led print publishing is a feminist public safety issue. These letters and publications sustain dignity, care, legal literacy, and organizing. This is perhaps most clearly exemplified by The Fire Inside, a physical newsletter written by, for, and about people in women’s prisons that digitized, heavily surveilled systems would otherwise stifle or erase. And as PEN America has documented, prisons now block “staggering numbers” of books and other reading materials for arbitrary reasons, from content to even the color of wrapping paper. In that environment, a physical newsletter written by, for, and about people in women’s prisons is exactly the kind of publication digitized, heavily surveilled systems can stifle or erase.