As of July 2025, the Bernalillo County Detention Center (BCDC)—New Mexico’s largest jail, housing an average of 1,800 inmates—has begun confiscating all books, letters, and personal photographs from incarcerated individuals. These vital lifelines are now labeled contraband.

Instead, inmates are left with costly iPads that charge $3.60 per hour to use—plus additional fees for phone calls, text messages, emails, and video visits. If each of the jail’s 1,803 inmates accesses just one hour per day, their families will collectively spend more than $194,000 per month, or $2.3 million per year—and that’s not including calls or messaging.

This new policy is both harmful and unjust.

Books, letters, and pictures are more than possessions—they’re lifelines. They support mental health, reduce recidivism, and help people maintain connection to their families and communities. These are proven rehabilitation tools. Stripping them away—while monetizing connection through for-profit devices—shifts enormous financial burdens onto families, many of whom are already struggling with housing, food, and health costs.

We call on the Bernalillo County Commission to act now.

We demand:

1. Immediate suspension of the ban on books, letters, photographs, and inmate-made drawings.
2. Reinstatement of secure, humane mail processing—including delivery of physical books, letters, pictures, educational materials, and artwork.
3. The BCDC Warden be given a directive to prioritize proven rehabilitation strategies that reduce recidivism and sustain family connection over punitive, profit-driven policies.