NEWS

April 27, 2010
Jail to Go With Post Card Only Mail

Citing the time consuming process of sorting mail and the contraband sometimes found in envelopes, Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski is following the lead of other Michigan jails and implementing a post card only mail system.

Once the jail's supply of envelopes is used, inmates will be able to purchase stamped post cards from Keefe Commissary, the sheriff said. As of May 1, all outgoing and incoming mail, with the exception of legal or judicial correspondence, will be restricted to post cards. Inmate to inmate mail will no longer be processed, the sheriff said.

Several factors led to the decision, including an effort to streamline corrections officers' duties to focus on inmate care and security at the jail, Lt. Tom Recker said. With the jail having a capacity of 198 inmates, opening and searching mail is a very time consuming process for corrections officers, and over the years, mail has contained items that are not allowed in the jail, Recker said.

Those include matches hidden between photographs, tobacco and notes that are sexual in nature that also could pose health issues, Recker said. Corrections officers have found other contraband items hidden in envelope lips as well, the sheriff said. "We've found all kinds of things in them," Mioduszewski said.

Another problem is inmate to inmate mail that causes internal issues, Recker said. Ingham County limited inmate mail to post cards about two years ago, Recker said. While initially the move was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU later did not object when jail officials said that judicial and legal correspondence was not included in the limit, Recker said.

Another reason for the switch is that jail officials are having to do more with less, and not having to sort through envelopes gives corrections officers less ancillary functions, Recker said.

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