In December 2025, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) plans to eliminate all physical mail sent to incarcerated individuals. Instead, every letter, drawing, photo, and card will be diverted to a private out-of-state facility in Texas, scanned, and delivered only as a digital image. This policy harms incarcerated people and their families, weakens relationships, and raises serious privacy, legal, and human-rights concerns.

We call on Governor Katie Hobbs and Arizona lawmakers to halt this policy and preserve physical mail access.

Why this matters
1. Privacy risks & data exploitation
Personal letters often contain emotional, sensitive conversations between families. Under the new policy, these deeply private messages will be stored and processed by a private contractor outside of Arizona’s oversight. Studies have shown that outsourcing communications introduces risk of data misuse, mining, and corporate profit from personal correspondence (Raher 2019). Legal challenges in other states have already revealed cases of lost, mishandled, or wrongly withheld mail (ACLU-PA 2019).

2. Emotional & psychological harm
Physical mail is not just words—it is handwriting, texture, and authenticity. Research demonstrates that real letters help protect mental health, reduce loneliness, and maintain identity and connection while incarcerated (Jiang & Winfree 2006). Physical mail supports stability, hope, and rehabilitation, and is strongly linked to better post-release outcomes and lower recidivism rates (Bales & Mears 2008).
In other states where real mail was replaced with scanned images, incarcerated people described digital copies as hollow and dehumanizing—“a lifeless photocopy of real connection” (Benning 2020).

3. Inequitable access to digital mail
This policy assumes equal access to digital devices—but many incarcerated individuals do not have tablets, or rely on a single public kiosk shared by hundreds. Tablet failures can take months to resolve, leaving people cut off from communication entirely. No reliable data has been released on how many Arizona inmates lack functioning devices.

4. No proven evidence that physical mail is a major contraband source
ADOC claims mail scanning is necessary for security—but nationwide data shows that contraband most frequently enters facilities through staff, not letters from family (Raher 2019; ACLU-PA 2019). There has been no transparent release of Arizona-specific data showing physical mail as a significant contraband source.

5. Constitutional & human dignity issues
The right to send and receive mail has long been recognized as an important protected form of communication (Procunier v. Martinez, 1974). Real letters are a meaningful connection to humanity—not a commodity or QR-coded data object owned and archived by a corporation.

 
We demand that Arizona:
✔ Pause or reconsider this policy
✔ Release transparent data: tablet access, device failures, mailing-related contraband incidents
✔ Publish privacy and retention policies for digitized mail
✔ Preserve access to real, physical correspondence
✔ Lead with humane, evidence-based correctional practices

 
Arizona should not take away one of the few remaining humane forms of contact available to incarcerated individuals. Real mail matters. Real connection matters. Human dignity matters.

Please sign and share to urge Arizona leadership to stop this harmful policy before it takes effect.