Limits applied to inmate letters

SALEM – Marion County Jail inmates soon won’t be able to get letters from the outside. They’ll have to settle for postcards.

Starting as soon as Jan. 1, jail officials are going to limit incoming and outgoing mail to postcards only. Current policy allows letters with no limit on the number of pages. The policy will save the county money and man-hours spent sorting through more than 1,000 pieces of general mail inmates receive each week.

“We’re not trying to be mean or make people upset,” Marion County Sheriff Jason Myers said.

“It’s about efficiency and safety in the workplace.”

Inmates will be required to purchase standardized pre-stamped 3.5-by-8.5-inch postcards from a commissary. The postcards feature a photo of the jail. The new rules will not affect mail to and from public officials or legal mail.

The benefits of the new policy include decreased traffic of contraband items through the jail, as well as saving time and costs, Marion County Jail Cmdr. Jeff Holland said. Contraband has “been a problem off and on as long as I’ve been in the business – 23 years,” Holland said. Each year, the county spends about $60,000 to cover man-hours spent sorting jail mail, Holland said.

“We estimate by going to the postcard system we can cut that by half,” Holland said.

For inmates, their families and the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, the policy calls into question the role of communication in the life of an inmate.

Jann Carson, associate director of the ACLU of Oregon, was not familiar with the Marion County Jail’s plans but spoke generally of the importance of communication between inmates and family.

“One of the best ways that we make ex-convicts reintegrate is keeping those ties to families while they are incarcerated,” Carson said. “If this policy is going to make that more difficult, that is troubling.”

Timothy Jones, 47, is serving a sentence in the jail for a probation violation. When asked if the policy is fair, Jones seemed indifferent.

“I’m incarcerated; what is fair?” he said. “I think it is more unfair to our families.”

Marion County’s new system is modeled after one in Maricopa County, Ariz., Holland said.

Lt. Robert Eastlund with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said the policy’s two-year tenure at the 9,100-inmate jail system has been a success. However, it hasn’t entirely stopped attempts to send contraband to inmates. Deputies are finding contraband slipped between the sheets of postcards, Eastlund said.