Over the past few years, there has been a move from corrections to use mail bans to attempt to control drugs entering prisons and the weight of that has fallen directly on people who are incarcerated and their families. Now, Nevada has followed this path, with the Director signing a revision to the mail policy to attempt to control their drug issue. 

The revision, is unnecessary and attempts to control things that there is already a process for handling violations of the AR.

Let me paint this picture for you, well if I was going to paint a picture for anyone in NDOC I would have to do it in black or blue ink on white paper. I can't write anything on the envelope, our grandchildren can no longer draw pictures of themselves and their papa to send him. 

For free people, understanding the degree to which prison families and couples use letters and notes, and creative forms of expression to maintain connection and intimacy and familial bonds during incarceration. 

The other thing that isn't understood is the positive impact that letters, cards, pictures and the connection it brings has on the rehabilitative process, the mental health and well being of a person who is in prison. 

There are no words to explain what it feels like to touch a letter from. your loved one, knowing their hands also touched the same letter unless you have had to live through an experience like this; having an incarcerated loved one or someone serving in a war. It is inexplicable. 

NDOC has already begun to implement this revision in some facilities without the approval of the Board of Prison Commissioners, we are asking the Board of Prison Commissioners to consider the facts and either refuse to approve the revision OR allow for more time for public comment and research on the success of mail restrictions, or lack thereof. 

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has implemented this with no identifiable improvement  on keeping drugs out of their facilities. 

The Intercept: Problems with federal mail bans.​

The Vera Institute on prison mail bans/restrictions

"Ostensibly, these rule changes are meant to prevent contraband from entering prisons—though there’s little evidence to support this invasive approach, which amounts to collective punishment. In Florida, for example, of the 3.1 million contraband items that entered the prison system from January 2019 to April 2021, only about 1 percent came in through mail. Texas prisons stopped in-person visits and limited mail, but that didn’t stop drugs from getting in. Reports confirm that most often, it’s staff—not “drug-soaked papers”—that bring contraband into facilities."

The Source NM on legislative analysis of the prison mail ban

    "Every three months, the LFC publishes quarterly reports on how various state agencies are performing. According to the latest quarterly report on the Corrections Department, the new prison mail policy “does not appear to have reduced drug use in the third quarter.”

Ultimately this restriction of mail, in the way it is proposed in the AR will not be sustainable and it is a slippery slope into other policies that impact families, without the benefits that the Department is claiming. 

Governor Sisolak, AG Ford and SOS Cevagske PLEASE do not approve this AR change. It looks like whip cream but it is really a spoonful of bad mayonnaise. At a minimum, we are asking you to stop the implementation while this is looked at more deeply. 

Thank You, 

Nevada Families of the Incarcerated and their allies.