Does inmate mail get read by anyone before it reaches the person?

Question

When you right somone in jail does it get read by an officer, judge, or anyone before the prisoner gets it?

Answer 1

Wrong, wrong, wrong! Know your rights!

Since 2002 -

WASHINGTON-The American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project welcomes a new policy instituted today by the Michigan Department of Corrections that bans prison staff from reading or skimming privileged prisoner legal mail.

Answer 2

When you send letters to a prisoner the correctional officers go through all the pieces of mail. Some inmates are red flagged, meaning the officers read each letter WORD for WORD.

But for the most part they skim each letter and content of the envelopes. Each prison has their own polices and rules, but always get the information before just sending something to someone. You don't want to get in trouble for sending something that you didn't know was against the rules.

Answer 3

when I was in prison, mail had 2 distinctions; regular mail and legal mail. All mail was opened to check for contraband.

Legal mail, from your attorney of record, was opened in front of you but not read.

Regular mail, could have been read but I do not recall an inmate being called up on any thing written to them.

The pay phone on the other hand was a different story. You never knew when they were listening and situations did arise as a result of overheard conversations. I can't recall if notice was given in the recorded message but there was a big sign over the phones giving notice to inmates that calls were subject to monitoring.

Answer 4

hello I will assume you mean write, not right.

But the jail or prison have mail roon people that review the mail, and yes while not all is read, most is. It is not a judge, he has nothing to do with the person outside of the courtroom, and there are 1000's of pieces of mail that come into a large institution. And normally these people are not officers either, but could be, normally they are merely people hired in the mail room to do just that, open all the mail, recieve any money orders comming in and review the mail. In smaller jails it may be the officers.

Answer 5

i work in a jail we do not read an inmates in coming mail we check for contraband , out going mail is closed by the inmate before we mail it for him/ her . jail and prison have different policies . county jail and city jail also have different policies. you need to check with the jail. they will let you know if all mail is read.

Answer 6

Yes, prison mail is open and inspected, and sometimes read, before it reaches the prisoner. I worked at the United States Disciplinary Barracks back in the 1970's.

Answer 7

As an ex- correctional officer Yes, if there is suspicion of illegal transactions going on. No inmate is exempt of protecting the whole of the population, So whatever u r thinking if u think it is illegal it usually is, don't do it or u might get black listed and be denied privileges or at the very most censored, Oh yeah and charges can be brought against u, the sender. CAREFUL what u do!!!!!

Answer 8

The rules may be different depending on the jurisdiction and what kind of facility Federal/state/ city/county. I would assume that what ever you send could be read by a correctional employee and write accordingly.

Answer 9

Yes, the letters are read and the envelopes and paper and packages are inspected for contraband. You would have to know the jail or prison's policy on what is considered contraband.

Answer 10

all mail from inmates either being sent or received is subject to scrutinisation by the prison censor. (in the uk)