Paper Mail Still Matters to People Behind Bars

Mail call on Thursday, Sept. 13, was different from any other in Sheena King’s 26 years behind bars. As usual, the unit officer came to her door. But instead of handing her an envelope with a letter inside, he handed her four photocopied pages stapled together. “The first page is a copy of the front of your envelope,” King wrote in response to emailed questions from Bloomberg Businessweek. “The second is a copy of the back. The third page is blank and appears to be a copy of the back of your letter. The last page is the actual letter.”

On Sept. 5, Pennsylvania became the first state in the U.S. to eliminate personal mail in its prison system. The policy means that its prisoners can no longer receive birthday cards, handwritten notes from Grandma, or drawings from their children. Instead, their families send mail to the offices of Smart Communications U.S. Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla., where, says Chief Executive Officer Jon Logan, employees inspect each piece of correspondence before converting it into a searchable electronic document. The company sends the digital files to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, where prison officials can review the contents before delivering them as black-and-white printouts to their intended recipients. Each piece of correspondence becomes part of a searchable database, guaranteeing prison officials perpetual access, even years after the recipients have been released.