New York restricts families from sending packages to inmates

ALBANY, NY (AP) — As part of an effort to keep illegal drugs and other contraband out of state prisons, New York is removing one of the few joys of life behind bars: It will no longer allow people to send packages care for inmates from home.

Under the new policy, which the state began to phase in last month, friends and family cannot deliver packages in person during prison visits. They will also not be allowed to ship boxes of treats unless they come directly from outside vendors.

While the rule won’t prevent inmates from getting items that can be ordered online, like a Snickers bar or a bag of Doritos, they will lose access to food like home-cooked meals or Grandma’s cookies.

That’s a disappointment to people like Caroline Hansen, who for 10 years hand-delivered packages full of fresh vegetables, fruits and meats to her husband, who is serving a life sentence.

“When I started bringing him packages, he said he loved avocados. She hadn’t had them in about 20 years,” said Hansen, a single mother of two who works as a waitress on Long Island.

“What breaks my heart is that I take eating a banana with my yogurt for granted. Can you imagine never being able to eat a banana? she added, saying that her husband’s prison cafeteria serves bananas once a month, at most.

New York had been one of the few states in the nation that still allowed families to send packages to inmates from home. The rule is already in effect in most state prisons.

Starting this month, the state prison system is also testing a program where inmates will be prevented from receiving most letters on paper. Instead, incoming letters will be scanned by computer and inmates will get copies.

The change is being made to try to head off a trend of people dipping letters in drugs to smuggle them to authorities. Multiple states, including Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, already photocopy incoming mail to prevent medications from being given to inmates. The Federal Bureau of Prisons began a similar practice in 2019.

The New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said in a statement that the two new policies are necessary to stop smuggling.

Contraband has been smuggled into prisons in a variety of ways: books laced with heroin, weapons and unauthorized electronic devices such as phones hidden in packages, and mail soaked in drugs such as methamphetamine or a synthetic cannabinoid, also known as K2.

When packages are received by a prison, officers remove the items from the box to inspect them visually or through an X-ray machine. If there is reason to suspect, officers may open sealed packages for further inspection.

Those checks, however, are not perfect and authorities believe the items are leaking.

Critics of the package ban questioned its effectiveness, noting that corrupt prison staff sometimes bring prohibited items.

California stopped allowing people to ship packages directly to inmates in 2003. Instead, inmates and their families can order items through a list of approved vendors provided by the state. In Florida, families are also unable to send packages from home.

Advocates for prisoners and inmate families say the package policy is too restrictive and an added financial burden.

Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, called prison food a “nutritional nightmare” and said some incarcerated people rely on care packages to maintain a healthy diet.

Family members of inmates often rely on private vendors like Walkenhorst and the Jack L. Marcus Company, which specialize in shipping permitted products to inmates, but items purchased from outside vendors can be more expensive.

Before his release from the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, former prisoner Wilfredo Laracuente said he was able to order a 35-pound (16-kilogram) package for himself containing cakes, cookies, chips, soaps, shampoo and some toiletries. .

It cost $230, the amount of money most prisoners don’t have.

“This is going to be the beginning of the end, where they stop everything under the guise of security and smuggling,” said Laracuente, who served two decades in prison for murder and now facilitates workshops that help newly released inmates reintegrate into the society. “What they are doing is removing the human component that is very vital and necessary to the re-entry process.”

Even before the ban, families often complained that sending packages was unreliable.

Angelica Watson, whose husband and brother are incarcerated, said she tried to send them packages monthly, but the food didn’t always arrive before it spoiled.

“Most of it was non-perishable items,” said Watson, who lives in Buffalo. “I tried to make it fresh, but it wasn’t a good idea because they kept it in their warehouses and it spoiled.”

Hansen, whose husband is serving time for killing a taxi driver, said having to order products through vendors charging “ridiculous prices” was not the solution to the smuggling problem.

“My husband basically thinks this is one more way to deprive him of his basic needs,” Hansen said.

More than 60 inmate families sent letters of complaint to New York Assemblyman David Weprin, the Democratic chairman of the Assembly Corrections Committee. Weprin criticized the new policy.

The packet constraint was first introduced in 2018 through a pilot program in three state prisons, where families could only send packages through a list of six pre-approved online providers. He was quickly rescinded by then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, due to public backlash and criticism.

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Maysoon Khan is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.

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