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The city’s Department of Corrections said it is moving to a mail delivery system with digitized packages to prevent dangerous items. Prison advocates warn that the change would infringe on privacy rights – and two other states that have made similar changes have not seen a drop in overdoses or drug arrests.
At an investigative hearing last week, DOC Commissioner Louis A. Molina told the City Council Committee on Criminal Justice that his office will begin sending incoming mail to Rikers Island and other prisons. city to a private company that first checks the letters, then e-mails the document to the inmates.
Molina said his staff is “checking” the restrictions issued – which can be limited to items purchased directly from approved vendors. The federal prison system earlier this year adopted a policy over opposition from inmate advocates and friends.
Three of the 18 deaths in the city’s jails this year were caused by fentanyl overdoses, the commission said.
Corrections officials in New York and nationally have long condemned visitors, letters and packages as the primary reason for the sale of goods.
“How does fentanyl get into our prisons?” Molina asked during the Congressional session, about the powerful synthetic opioid behind the majority of serious illnesses in recent years. “The short answer is that most of it goes into letters and packages laced with fentanyl.”
Jail officials say papers and other items that are handed out — including things like sneakers, the commissioner said — are often laced with fentanyl, suboxone, K2, methamphetamines or
But inmate advocates argue that corrections officers and prison staff are the ones who make arrests for drugs and other prohibited items such as knives.
As the city reported in February, when visitors were barred from early access to Rikers during the pandemic, more drugs flowed into the jails. .
Between April 2020 and May 2021, authorities seized drugs in city jails more than 2,600 times, our report said. The number of arrests made in the same period from 2018 to 2019 more than doubled, as the prison population grew and more outsiders came and went. , the data shows.
The numbers also showed an increase in mail thefts containing drugs during the same period – but less than a third of all prescription drugs.
‘Dehumanizing’ Digitizing
In an effort to curb ODs, jails and prisons across the country have moved to digitized mail systems and use designated agents for package delivery.
These restrictions violate the free speech rights of detainees, the government argues. Last year, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued the Bureau of Prisons over its digital mail logging program.
“These programs are dehumanizing,” Institute staff attorney Stephanie Krent testified at the City Council meeting. “They are bad. It is especially dangerous for those who are incarcerated and their loved ones.
Krent and other advocates argue that physical mail cannot be replaced, and that photocopies and digital scans will lose their appeal in messages such as texts from children.
“We’ve had inmates tell us about the value and importance of keeping something they’ve held that they love and wish they could bring that letter out and check it out. even in difficult times,” Krent revealed. .
Some of the scans come in dark or dark, making them difficult to read, according to inmates at facilities where the system is installed. Scans can take days to arrive or sometimes not at all.
At least two government digital mail programs are being challenged in court.
In Pennsylvania, prison officials were forced to scrap the new policy after lawyers sued, saying they couldn’t speak privately with their clients.
In Missouri, prison officials banned physical mail this June to prevent drug trafficking. The agency contracted with Texas-based company Securus Technology to scan letters, pictures and magazines.
But the overdose continues four months into the new program and has increased, according to a News Tribune report. Before the ban, 31 people overdosed every month. That number rose to 37 between July and September.
Lack of Transparency
Molina argued during the Congressional hearing that the new restrictions would restrict drug sales.
“Books are for reading, not for sexand fentanyl,” he said. “These changes should help prevent drugs and other harmful substances from entering our facilities. They should save lives.
The number of chronic deaths in the prison system rose from 203 in 2020 to 309 in 2021, according to the city’s Correctional Health Services, which oversees medical services for prisoners.
During the hearing, Molina also discussed employee misconduct, saying the department has a no-deal policy for officers involved in drug busts.
Since 2017, whistleblower investigations have resulted in criminal charges against 25 city corrections officers, according to the city’s Department of Investigation.
Molina and DOI agreed to close a number of open investigations into officers suspected of smuggling drugs or other property.
Checkers for visitors to walk by lie beyond the entrance to a Rikers Island building, July 1, 2022.
After the lawsuit, Molina and his team declined to answer questions about how the digital mail system would work or when it would be launched soon.
All city inmates first need wireless tablets to access digital mail, but many don’t have those devices, Molina told the Council.
“We are currently negotiating with a new agent to make sure that everyone in prison has their own board, and they go and keep that board,” Molina revealed. “Even if they go from one house to another. There will be a chance to prepare some program for that person.
However, representatives of Molina and DOC declined to disclose the name of the supplier, how the firm was selected, and the parameters and price of the potential contract.
Stories, forever
Prison advocates and legal experts oppose the new system, saying it will lead to unnecessary surveillance.
“Companies that sell digital mail technology are really reading this,” Krent said. “And this may include keeping scanned copies of mail forever.”
Companies can also share information with law enforcement, and collect IP addresses and GPS information, he added.
Some states, including the federal prison system, have established carve-outs for correspondence and attorneys.
Council members asked Molina why the department doesn’t use its body scanners on its own corrections officers to prevent them from making drug arrests. Molina said the screening areas are not as large as those at airports.
“We don’t have the infrastructure footprint to be able to put in all those body scanners and all those access control points,” he said. “And it comes at a very high price.”
Before Molina came aboard in January, city jail officials had argued for years that detectives would find knives and forks of all kinds, which would be greatly reduced. many punctures and wounds.
But the equipment, purchased during the Bloomberg administration, was blocked for years by federal lawmakers opposed to using low doses of radiation on prisoners.
Prison inspectors have vowed to train officers to ensure inmates are not exposed to radiation from body scanners. In 2018, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law into law that would allow it to be used by inmates — and officers.
The DOC began introducing them in 2019, but they have not yet been used to screen employees.
Despite promises by corrections officials to use it wisely, in January 2020 the prison inspection board said it was “continuing to investigate misuse” of the six devices – which screen for drugs and other dangerous substances – it says “there is a risk of radiation exposure” due to the inaccuracy. of staff training.
A 56-page report from the city’s Board of Corrections called for an immediate overhaul of the action plan, citing health risks “to workers and inmates and the risk of misinterpretation.” in scans.”
Congresswoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), chairwoman of the Criminal Justice Committee, said she didn’t think the new mail system would be the “silver bullet” to getting drugs out of the prison.
“I think there are a lot of things that have to do with this problem,” he told the city, adding that he also wants body monitors to be used on corrections officers and other department employees.
Advocates argue that the people who will benefit from the new mail system are profitable contractors.
Veronica Vela, a supervising attorney for the New York Prisoner Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society, said the DOC plan is “a costly, cruel, and disruptive response that burdens inmates with no discernible benefit but the benefit to the business of marketing these services.”
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