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."

State prisons are shifting from physical mail to scanned or digital systems, with Illinois moving by emergency rule, New York installing mail scanners, and Texas using tablet or photocopy delivery. Officials frame the change as contraband reduction, but digitization raises alarms about privacy, attorney-client privilege, and restrictions on reading, writing, legal literacy, and organizing. Physical letters and inside-led print publishing sustain dignity, care, legal knowledge, and collective action for incarcerated people. The Fire Inside, a physical newsletter produced by people in women's prisons, functions as a living archive and classroom and faces risk under heavily surveilled, paperless systems.

Read at Truthout