Mail Scanning

Mail scanning programs scan the original, physical mail sent to people who are incarcerated and reproduce it into digital copies. These inferior digital copies are then transferred to individual tablets, shared kiosks, or reprinted on paper. Mail scanning occurs within correctional facilities or under the control of a third-party provider. The original copies are typically destroyed, and the people in prison never get to see or hold the original letter.  

People who are incarcerated rely on postal mail to receive letters from people in their support system, drawings from their children, photos of loved ones, love letters from spouses, birthday or holiday cards, religious materials from faith leaders, coursework from professors, books, magazines, and newsletters. 

Because most people are incarcerated far from home, mail is often the least expensive and most-used way for them to stay in touch with their loved ones. Mail scanning replaces this vital form of family contact with a needlessly complicated process that imposes more costs on families and fails to make prisons or communities any safer.

Mail scanning has skyrocketed in popularity among correctional facilities in the United States. At least 14 states implemented mail scanning in all state prisons as of 2022. That number grew to 20 states as of November 2024. Many other states have pilot programs that will likely become permanent before long. 

The practice of mail scanning has risen in prominence principally due to the myth among prison officials that mail scanning will stop the flow of contraband into jails and prisons. However, there is no evidence of this effect, and in some states, drug use and overdoses have increased after the implementation of mail scanning policies.

Mail scanning imposes numerous burdens on people who are incarcerated and their loved ones without making prisons safer. Mail scanning presents a number of problems: 

Mail scanning fails to eliminate contraband in prisons, which is the problem it claims to solve.

Mail scanning does not make prisons safer. Contraband prevention is the central argument that correctional staff and third-party providers employ to justify mail scanning. However, mail scanning is not an effective way to prevent contraband from entering correctional facilities. In many states, mail scanning has shown little, if any, effect on the flow of contraband. In some states, rates of substance use and overdose have even increased following the implementation of mail scanning. 

Across a number of metrics, the drug problem in Pennsylvania state prisons actually became worse after mail scanning procedures went into effect. Five years in, the rate of people incarcerated in Pennsylvania testing positive on random drug screenings nearly tripled compared to rates before the change. 

A year after the New Mexico Corrections Department banned physical mail and implemented mail scanning, the state reported the new procedure had no effect on drug use in the state prison system. In fact, the rate of positive random drug test results nearly doubled, reversing a previous trend of three years of reduced drug use in New Mexico’s prisons. 

In the first half of 2022, Missouri prisons averaged just over 34 overdoses per month. The Missouri Department of Corrections began mail scanning on July 1, 2022; in the following months, overdoses rose to 39 per month on average. 

These are only three of many examples of how mail scanning is ineffective and detrimental to the presence of contraband in the first place. In reality, contraband also often enters correctional facilities through correctional staff. After conducting a thorough review of news reports of contraband entering jails across the country in 2018, the Prison Policy Initiative concluded that “almost all contraband introduced to any local jail comes through staff.” It’s not unreasonable to draw similar conclusions regarding prisons.

Mail scanning creates low-quality copies that are blurry and consistently delayed.

The mail scanning technology third parties and correctional facilities employ often produces copies that are blurry, have missing pages and cut-off words, or are otherwise illegible. Part of this can be attributed to converting colored mail into black-and-white copies, which can deteriorate the image quality. In states with mail scanning policies, people who are incarcerated report that scanned photographs can render faces unrecognizable. 

Mail scanning procedures themselves also cause delays. The extra steps add room for mistakes like misdelivery and accidental disposal, both of which have been reported in states with mail scanning policies.

Mail scanning increases costs for loved ones while major telecommunication companies profit.

Mail scanning imposes additional, unnecessary financial burdens on loved ones. For instance, in Florida, where mail scanning was introduced in 2022, people who are incarcerated need to pay per page to have their mail printed. It costs $0.10 per page to print in black and white and $1.00 per page to print in color. In North Carolina, family and friends sending mail to their loved ones in prison need to download an app to send letters or cards for scanning and pay a fee to have these documents sent.  Mail scanning creates inevitable restrictions, delays, and overall loss of sentimental value. These downsides push people who are incarcerated and their loved ones to rely on other, more expensive forms of communication. As a result, they face increased costs when they switch to email, phone calls, or video visits. For instance, there is a cost associated with sending email to or from prison, making prisons one of the only place in the world where people have to pay for email. Email and other modes of communication are typically controlled by the same major telecommunication companies that control mail scanning. These major companies profit off of the increased financial burdens families face.

Mail scanning authorizes unnecessary surveillance and violates privacy.

When personal letters are in the hands of a third-party company, people who are incarcerated and their loved ones are at risk of having their personal information and data compromised. Smart Communications privately advertised its mail scanning program, MailGuard, to the Virginia Department of Corrections as a tool to identify “gang members.” This service gives investigators access to information such as the mail sender’s cell phone number, GPS location, email address, physical address, IP Address, and any related accounts the sender may use. Smart Communications’ contract proposal stated that MailGuard would create a searchable database that could track everything each person who is incarcerated has sent and received. With the company’s policy of destroying physical copies after 30 days and retaining all digital copies for seven years, mail scanning creates significant privacy concerns for anyone sending or receiving mail. Mail scanning surveils and profiles people on both sides of prison walls, diminishing the rights and privacy of people who are incarcerated and their loved ones. 

This added surveillance may make people sending mail feel uncomfortable, which may lead to less frequent or less robust communication between people in prison and their outside support system. This in turn can lead to poor mental health and worse reentry outcomes for people who are incarcerated.

Mail scanning strips people who are incarcerated of a valuable, physical connection to home and stands in the way of rehabilitation.

Other than in-person visits, mail is the only semblance of a tangible connection to home in the highly isolating environment of a prison. It is a significant lifeline and one of the most important means to maintain connections to loved ones. People often read and reread their mail to be reminded of their support system. To digitize physical mail is to eliminate the art, beauty, sentimentality, emotion, texture, and even scent unique to physical correspondence. As one mother stated, “My children’s lives have become tangible with every piece of mail that I have received. We were able to touch, hug, kiss, and cry together through letters… One letter feels as if it could fill one thousand days.” 

People who are incarcerated and their loved ones know that staying connected is an essential, beneficial form of support. Decades of academic research support this insight with robust evidence that visits, mail, phone, and other forms of family contact have meaningful, positive impacts on people who are incarcerated: better health, better behavior, and better post-release outcomes, including being less likely to return to prison after release. 

Mail is often the most commonly used, affordable, and accessible form of communication for people who are incarcerated and their loved ones. Replacing this vital form of family contact with mail scanning only exacerbates the dehumanization people who are incarcerated already experience.

Most people in prison will someday return home to their communities. Making it harder for them to stay connected to their support systems does not make anyone safer, inside and outside of prison.

Illinois prisons do not currently use mail scanning statewide. 18 county jails throughout Illinois have implemented mail scanning programs. Like most other states, Illinois does not prohibit the implementation of mail scanning. Some state facilities already have a mail scanning pilot program underway, despite lacking data to show that mail scanning will solve the alleged problem of contraband. Mail scanning hurts families and their loved ones who are incarcerated, and does not make us safer; efforts to implement mail scanning policies must be stopped.

Prison Policy Initiative has conducted extensive research into the practice and impact of mail scanning. This investigation, alongside the work of other notable organizations like Vera and Brennan Center for Justice, offers valuable findings as well. Mail scanning is just one of the ways prisons restrict and monetize communication between people who are incarcerated and their loved ones – dig into PPI’s research and analysis of this phenomenon to learn more.

Linked Sources:

Brown, M., & Dayen, D. (2021, February 24). Physical mail could be eliminated at Federal Prisons. The American Prospect. https://prospect.org/justice/physical-mail-could-be-eliminated-at-federal-prisons/ 

Dholakia, N. (2024, September 4). The FCC Is Capping Outrageous Prison Phone Rates, but Companies Are Still Price Gouging. Vera Institute of Justice. https://www.vera.org/news/the-fcc-is-capping-outrageous-prison-phone-rates-but-companies-are-still-price-gouging 

Gordon, A. (2021, March 24). Prison Mail Surveillance Company keeps tabs on those on the outside, too. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/prison-mail-surveillance-company-keeps-tabs-on-those-on-the-outside-too/ 

Hoopes, Z. (2023, April 21). Despite 5 years of mail scanning to keep drugs from Pa. Prisons, problems remain. Pennlive. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2023/04/nearly-5-years-after-inmate-mail-scanning-policy-took-effect-pa-prison-drug-problem-remains.html  

Krull, R. (2022, October 17). Overdoses rise in Missouri prisons despite strict new mail policy. Riverfront Times. https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/overdoses-rise-in-missouri-prisons-despite-strict-new-mail-policy-38708405 

Nahra, A., & Arzy, L. (2020, September 29). Why mail service is so important to people in prison. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/why-mail-service-so-important-people-prison

Renaud, J. (2018, December 6). Who’s really bringing contraband into jails? our 2018 survey confirms it’s staff, not visitors. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2018/12/06/jail-contraband/#:~:text=I%20reviewed%20news%20stories%20of,local%20jail%20comes%20through%20staff. 

Wang, L. (2021, December 21). Research roundup: The positive impacts of family contact for incarcerated people and their families. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2021/12/21/family_contact/#:~:text=The%20research%20is%20clear%3A%20visitation,recidivism%2C%20and%20improvement%20in%20school 

Wang, L. (2022, November 17). Mail scanning: A harsh and exploitative new trend in prisons. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/11/17/mail-scanning/ Widra, E. (2024, January 30). Addicted to punishment: Jails and prisons punish drug use far more than they treat it. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/01/30/punishing-drug-use/