The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is planning to . The roll out will happen in phases starting next week.
Once units switch to the new system, mail will be sent to the digital mail processing center where it will be sorted, scanned and uploaded to secure tablets.
Officials say this is about reducing the amount of contraband coming into Texas facilities, but some advocates charge that this change cuts prisoners off from meaningful contact with the outside world.
Jennifer Toon, the project director at , said the TDCJ had promised advocates in the past that the department wouldn鈥檛 fully transition away from physical mail.
鈥淩ight before COVID, they had created what they called 鈥業nspect to Protect.鈥� This was the mailroom policy that really started to limit the amount of mail and what type of mail that people on the inside could get. For instance, this took away greeting cards,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his was really startling for us because physical mail, especially to women that have kids, it鈥檚 something that you always go back to. You pull out of your property and you hold on to it to connect those feelings of your loved ones.
We pushed back really hard and they allowed people to send greeting cards around Mother鈥檚 Day, Father鈥檚 Day and Christmas. And they assured us that they would never take away physical mail.鈥�
The new policy does not cover books, magazines or legal mail. But anything from loved ones 鈥� including photographs 鈥� will no longer be physically given to incarcerated people.
Toon said there is little to no evidence this move will help reduce contraband inside.
鈥淭he Prison Policy Initiative put out numerous reports as this has happened in other states, and there鈥檚 that this reduces contraband,鈥� she said.
Toon said mail has huge sentimental value.
鈥淎s a formerly incarcerated woman, I remember pulling out the cards in the letters that my father and my brother wrote me, which wasn鈥檛 often, as guys,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen I was having a horrible day there I would just run my hand over their signature and just really hold on to that and really meditate on the support that I had on the outside to remind me that there are people out there that love me and want me to be better. You just don鈥檛 get the same effect when it鈥檚 on the tablet or scanned-in mail.鈥�
Toon said that, from her experience, this policy change will have a unique impact on women in prison, especially mothers.
鈥淚 remember when women would go to the mail room to be denied a piece of mail because it had unidentifiable substance on it,鈥� she said. 鈥溾�橴nidentified substance鈥� 鈥� it can mean anything. It can mean glitter. It can mean paint. It doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean drugs.
Because those of us that have been in the system know that from our experience, the bulk of the contraband is coming from the staff. And just to watch those women get these pieces of mail denied, with drawings (from their kids), they would come back to the dorm just in tears. I mean, because it triggers all of those feelings about 鈥業鈥檓 away from my kids. I鈥檓 a terrible mother,鈥� you know. 鈥楬ow did I do this to my family?鈥欌��
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