department-of-corrections
Will paper personal mail return to prisons? Corrections secretary says ‘no’
Since September, people incarcerated in Pennsylvania’s prison have not received original copies of their personal mail. Will that change? For the moment, the state’s Corrections secretary says “no.” Under a policy designed to keep drugs out of prisons, letters and photos are sent to Smart Communications, a Florida company with a three-year, $15.8 million contract […]
Legal mail policy at Pennsylvania prisons will be revised under settlement
A controversial policy on copying and storing legal mail at Pennsylvania prisons will be revised under a nearly finished settlement between groups that advocate for incarcerated persons and the state Corrections department. In a Friday press release, the Department of Corrections said it will implement a new policy by April 6 that allows incarcerated persons […]
Attorneys say state prison policy on legal mail has stymied communication with clients
A lengthy back-and-forth on copiers and paper jams isn’t the most compelling courtroom drama, but it gets to the heart of a lawsuit against the state Corrections Department and its new legal mail policy. After a statewide prison lockdown last fall, the Department of Corrections instituted sweeping changes designed to keep drugs out of its […]
The ACLU is taking Pennsylvania’s corrections department to court over copy-and-save legal mail policy
According to the ACLU, "Pennsylvania is the first and still only state prison system in the country to copy and store legal mail."