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Oneida County Jail reverses mail policy to allow inmates to receive letters once more

Katie Thoresen
/
WXPR

The Oneida County Jail is making changes to how inmates receive mail after talks with the ACLU of Wisconsin.

The jail used to have a problem with drugs being smuggled to inmates.

“Well, we were seeing it locally as well as nationwide, sheriffs and prisons were seeing an influx of dangerous drugs and other things coming into the facilities,” said Oneida County Sheriff Grady Hartman.

Hartman said jail staff would catch most of the drugs in the mail, but still, some would make it through, leading to inmates using and potentially overdosing.

“You don’t need much for an overdose. Like fentanyl is a very tiny, tiny amount. We were seeing the drugs hidden throughout the mail, underneath postage stamps, within the letters. Like LSD can just be put on paper,” said Hartman.

In 2019, the jail stopped allowing inmates to receive paper mail in an effort to combat this.

Instead, inmates could communicate with family and friends through electronic kiosks.

Hartman says there were free options and others that cost 12 to 15 cents per message.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin called this policy a violation of First Amendment rights of incarcerated people.

“It makes some sense to have access to electronic communication. We don’t think they should back away from that, but there are still plenty of people out there, especially people who are lower income and older people who don’t have access those electronic communications technologies,” Larry Dupuis, ACLU of Wisconsin’s Legal Director.

The ACLU was also concerned about the profit the Sheriff’s Office and the company that sells the kiosks were making off the situation.

It questioned whether charging inmates to use the kiosk was an incentive to stop the mail.

The Sheriff’s Office does gets some of that money, according to the ACLU.

“Once you sign up for Google, in fact Google is free, for most of us. It costs money when you’re in the jail and you’re in the prison,” said Dupuis. “We don’t know what their profit margins are or anything like that. It’s sort of this opaque process and could be taking advantage of prisoners and their families.”

The ACLU wrote to Sheriff Hartman in October requesting it change its policy.

Since then, the two have come to a compromise.

The Oneida County Jail is once again allowing mail for inmates.

To prevent drugs from passing to inmates, jail staff will photocopy the letters. The original letters will be kept with the person’s belongings to be handed over to them when they’re released.

“I think that is acceptable. I think that a photocopy of a Christmas Card isn’t as good as the Christmas card itself, but it is more personal. And it does accommodate those people on the outside who don’t have access to email or other forms of electronic communications,” said Dupuis.

Sheriff Hartman said the kiosks will remain in place and will still likely be the preferred communication method for many of the people in jail.

“For the most part, the vast majority of inmates appreciate that and use that,” said Hartman.

The ACLU is now pushing for change in the LaCrosse County Jail which has a similar ban on mail.

Katie Thoresen is WXPR's News Director/Vice President.
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