has anyone else ever had problems with the facilities opening mail

outlawsdeb · #1 06-05-2003, 08:25 PM

has anyone else ever had problems with the facilities opening mail and gluing them shut after???

Mimi · #2 06-05-2003, 08:34 PM

outlawsdeb,

You could have started a new thread, if you would have liked to. Anyway, in NY if the inmate seals the letter, unless there is reason, DOCS is not supposed to open the letter. Are you sure that is what occured?

**Ken** · #3 06-06-2003, 04:32 AM

Are you talking about outgoing mail from the Prisoner to us???

If so, I am not sure about all states but from what I understand they will and do inspect all outgoing mail...

Where my Partner is, he cannot seal the letter when he drops it in the mail box - they do that in the mail room after they have inspected it.... then it is sealed and mailed.

J'sGrl · #4 06-06-2003, 04:49 AM

Not sure how it is in NY, but usually all incoming AND outgoing mail is inspected.
In FL where my guy is at, they are not allowed to seal the letters. This is done in the mail room and they usually only use a tiny piece of clear tape. I'm surprised the contents of his letters haven't gotten lost, considering I'm in Europe and the letters travel quite far...

-Susanne-

S

J

Phil in Paris · #5 06-06-2003, 05:39 AM

Same thing here, the mail room seals the letter with a tiny piece of clear tape !! FL DOC loves tiny pieces of clear tape !!

This is stupid, because I send Joey his envelopes, and they are self adhesive !! They could save on clear tape !!!

Once or twice a month, I get a letter which is NOT sealed at all !!

Fortunately, no contents were lost so far despite the long distance trip.

Phil

Mimi · #6 06-06-2003, 09:06 AM

In New York the Inmate can seal their own envelopes. If it is sealed then the facilty is not supposed to open them unless there is just cause for doing so. All incoming mail is inspected. New York differs slightly with other States on this. Inmates sealing their own mail in all NYS DOCS facilities, even SHU! NYS DOCS can put addresses and people on something called "Negative Correspondance," which prohibits any mail to or from that person or address.

Hope this helps clarify!

rosepetal · #7 06-06-2003, 01:33 PM

Yes, it happened to me. I knew this happened because there was a time when letters addressed to me were purposely delayed and when I finally received the letters addressed to me, they had been postmarked 21 days earlier and then stamped again with a new postmark date. Normal mailing time is that if a letter is mailed, say on the 4th, I'd get it on the 5th, therefore, it is highly unusual for mail to take 21 days to reach me. Furthermore, it was quite obvious that the letters had been opened and resealed again . It was challenged and acknowledged that they had no legal reason to do hold the mail; in the end we won.

deb · #8 06-06-2003, 01:41 PM

In Michigan they open the letters we send in, BUT the inmates seal their envelopes they send out and MDOC does not open them and look at them at all...

Deb

outlawsdeb · #9 06-06-2003, 05:07 PM

yes i am very sure they have been opened and resealed...in fact some of the glue has glues his letters together and i have to tear them apart.........and he is in SHU at Upstate Corr.

Durantschick · #10 06-08-2003, 12:39 PM

well as mimi was saying in new york the inmates are allowed to seal their letters. and in my case when my fiance receives my letters they are opened in front of him, simply to check the contents and is given to him. i heard that there are places where others open the mail before the inmates receive it and are also able to read the letters. this is not the case with me and mine

shari

KRIS_NC · #11 06-08-2003, 03:19 PM

I KNOW HERE IN NC, THE INMATE SEALS THEIR OWN LETTERS TO GO OUT BUT ANYTHING SENT IN TO THEM IS OPENED. THE FIRST LETTER I WROTE TERRANCE THEY TORE OFF MOST OF MY ADDRESS AND HE JUST HAPPENED TO PUT EVERY PO BOX ON THE ENVELOPE AND THANK GOD IT MADE IT TO ME

Jenuwine · #12 09-10-2003, 09:35 AM

It's happened to me. At Attica, I had them opened and taped shut. They are supposed to tell you if they have reason to monitor your mail before they do it but they basically can do whatever they like. My mail started taking weeks to get to him because of this or he wasn't getting them at all and vice versa. All basically over me writing a letter to the Commissioner.

toi_ama · #13 09-10-2003, 10:49 AM

By law, all prisons in ALL states are supposed to let the inmates seal their outgoing letters and, unless there's a very good reason for it, the prison is not supposed to open any outgoing mail. If it's legal mail, it can't be opened either going out OR coming in. And if you got a letter that was first postmarked 21 days before you got it, then it was opened outside the prison, because it's the post office that postmarks the mail, not the prison, if I understand it right. The southern states------notably Florida and Texas where the good ol' boys hold sway-----don't feel it necessary to abide by anyone's rules but their own. I guess Alabama and a couple others can be added to that list, huh?

caprione · #14 09-11-2003, 02:41 PM

When my guy was in a program in Gowanda, they could read ALL mail, both directions. They could not read outgoing, once he had sealed the envelop, without just cause to do so. Mail to him was often very delayed compared to our usual two day mail time.
Now he is elsewhere and it looks like things have straightened out but my mail from him has been a little delayed, nothing major yet.