The New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) is currently seeking permission to ban physical mail sent to incarcerated people. The DOC plans to contract with a company called Securus to scan and upload mail to tablets. DOC’s plan to strip prisoners of mail, sometimes the only physical tie they have to their loved ones and the world, is inhumane and a flagrant privacy violation. In sum, the DOC is opening the door for a private firm to set up a surveillance system against incarcerated people.

We need you to write to the NYC DOC and Governor Kathy Hochul to fight the proposed mail ban.

Why Digital Mail Is a Surveillance Nightmare:

The move to digital mail in prisons is part of a larger nationwide trend. Officials claim that this change is to stop drugs from entering prisons. However, the specter of mail and visitors smuggling drugs is a falsehood that hides a harsh truth: most of the contraband is brought in by staff.

Under the guise of prisoner care, the DOC is introducing a privately-operated surveillance system. Securus already has a poor track record when it comes to prisoner privacy. Their telephone systems were shown to illegally record privileged calls between prisoners and their attorneys.

Smart Communications, a telecom company that offers similar services to Securus, claimed that their “MailGuard” mail digitization services are a major source of “secret intelligence into the sender,” including their email address, home address, IP address. GPS location, and much more.

Securus collects equally intrusive private information from users and shares it with correctional facilities, all without a warrant or proper consent. Their privacy policy reserves the right to share information from calls with law enforcement and “certain third parties,” “for use in connection with and in support of law enforcement activities.” The limited Fourth Amendment protections that the incarcerated have are being withered away by a partnership between the state and private interests.

Mail is a Basic Standard of Care

Mail is a lifeline to prisoners, and it is the most common form of family contact. A large body of evidence indicates that when family contact is regular, prisoners demonstrate improved outcomes post-incarceration, including a reduced chance of recidivism and improved mental health.

The NYC DOC’s request to digitize, and thus surveil, mail will chill communications between prisoners and their families. It is a proposal that further extends the hyper-surveillance of prisoners to include anyone that has contact with an incarcerated person.

The importance of physical mail cannot be overstated. As David Campbell writes of his time at Rikers Island: "When you are incarcerated, a physical letter is a small marvel, a message in a bottle, a reminder of who you are, where you came from, who still cares about you, and why you should stay out of trouble and come home soon."

We need to protect the privacy of prisoners and their families – Can you send a letter to the NYC DOC and Governor Kathy Hochul and urge them to protect physical mail?