The Illinois Division of Corrections is rolling out a program that might enable prisons to electronically scan incoming mail, regardless of objections from some jail reform teams.
In late October the state entered right into a four-year settlement with Texas-based ICSolutions, which affords telecommunication companies to correctional amenities, in response to a contract obtained by WBEZ via a Freedom of Data Act request. It comes as state lawmakers and the union representing jail guards increase considerations about medication like fentanyl getting inside prisons via paper mail.
Folks in Illinois prisons are allowed to purchase extremely restricted e-tablets, just like iPads. Whereas they don’t have unfettered web entry, they’ll textual content and e-mail family members for a price via a safe web site, take heed to music and podcasts, and watch movies.
However the brand new contract with ICSolutions may additionally sign that the IDOC is contemplating new restrictions on paper mail coming into prisons. Paper is typically sprayed or soaked in illicit substances, equivalent to artificial medication and even roach killer, then mailed into prisons the place individuals can get excessive by smoking it. That’s contributed to a large spike in jail drug overdoses nationwide in recent times. The union representing jail employees says guards have reported getting sick after dealing with tainted mail.
The corporate’s expertise “reduces the quantity of standard offender mail that’s dealt with by the establishment, which in flip reduces alternatives for introduction of contraband, and time spent reviewing contents and distributing mail,” the seller writes in its proposal to the state. Per the settlement, state amenities can scan and digitally ship postal mail to individuals on an “particular person foundation.”
Nevertheless it’s not clear when IDOC would roll out widespread mail-scanning, or the place it would start to interchange paper mail. Spokesperson Naomi Puzzello mentioned in an announcement that the company remains to be determining a timeline for rolling out this system, and it’s are “dedicated to continued dialog with key stakeholders on this situation.”
IDOC had already launched a pilot program to scan non-privileged mail coming into downstate Menard and Pinckneyville Correctional Facilities.
Beneath that program, the warden overseeing the jail can put individuals below “mail scan standing” if, for instance, there’s proof the particular person misused the mail system to get medication inside jail. Which means they’d solely have entry to a photocopy of their unique mail, and can now not obtain gadgets that can’t be scanned, equivalent to books, magazines or newspapers, until they’re mailed immediately from the writer, or delivered to the ability by an authorised customer.
Republican state senator Terri Bryant’s district contains Menard and Pickneyville’s amenities. She mentioned in a press convention on the state Capitol final month that she had just lately paid a go to to 9 amenities, together with Western Illinois Correctional Middle, about 40 miles from the Missouri state line.
“[The staff] introduced packing containers of proof luggage to us, the place we noticed the contaminated mail that was coming in,” Bryant mentioned. “They’d luggage and luggage of proof simply [from] Western alone.”
Earlier than becoming a member of the legislature, Bryant labored for the IDOC for 20 years. She mentioned she has been “beating the drum” on the problem of medication coming into prisons for the previous two years, after listening to a number of experiences of publicity and hospitalization from workers members inside.
“The place can we begin? We begin with the scanned mail,” Bryant mentioned. “We begin with stopping [staff members] from bringing their dishes in …we return to patting [visitors] down.”
And whereas the labor union representing IDOC jail employees is becoming a member of the decision to ban incoming paper mail, a number of jail reform teams are staunchly opposed.
Restore Justice, together with dozens of authorized and neighborhood teams, despatched a letter to IDOC final month urging them to not substitute postal mail with a scanning system, and to as an alternative “discover evidence-based options that foster security and rehabilitation.”
James Swansey is a part of the group’s coverage workforce. He was incarcerated in IDOC for 28 years, and was launched 4 years in the past. He mentioned proof that scanning mail will result in much less drug publicity is scant, and proscribing individuals’s entry to paper mail shouldn’t be taken flippantly.
“Whereas I used to be incarcerated, I had letters from my grandmother, and I nonetheless have these,” Swansey mentioned. “I did lose her whereas I used to be incarcerated, however it’s simply the truth that I can return and reread these letters.”
Swansey mentioned his workforce has had bother getting solutions on drug publicity incidents from IDOC. However he mentioned they are going to be in Springfield in January through the legislative lame duck session to speak to lawmakers.
“We will all… have a logical answer, as an alternative of it being reactionary,” Swansey mentioned. “Reactionary options could have numerous unintended penalties for the incarcerated inhabitants.”
Mawa Iqbal covers state authorities and politics for WBEZ. Comply with her @mawa_iqbal.
