Mail Regulation in the Jail

Handling mail to and from inmates is a challenge for jail administrators. Of course they want to enable inmates to handle their legitimate business (including pending legal matters) and maintain family and community ties. On the other hand, they must be on guard against contraband or inappropriate materials coming into the jail, or inmates participating in crimes or planning an escape from within. Inmates have a constitutional right to communicate with others and to access the courts, but those rights are limited by the jail’s obligation to preserve security, good order, and discipline. This post collects some of the basic legal principles that should be incorporated into the jail's policy on mail regulation. By state administrative regulation, every jail must have a written policy on handling inmate mail. A starting point in the analysis of how a jail should handle inmate mail is identifying what sort of mail it is. There are two broad categories: privileged mail and general mail. As you might imagine, privileged mail is entitled to greater protection than general mail in terms of the inmate’s rights to privacy and prompt delivery. What inmate mail is privileged? Without question, mail between the inmate and his or her attorney is privileged. That status extends beyond the inmate’s personal lawyer to other persons working for the lawyer, such as investigators, law clerks, and paralegals. In general, mail to the court system, judges, consular officials, and other government officials, like the attorney general or the Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission, should also be considered privileged. (Note, however, [...]