Tarrant County Jail is transitioning to digital mail to combat the increase of contraband smuggled into the facility through traditional mail.
All inmate mail, such as letters, postcards, and photographs, will be scanned into a computer system that inmates can access through tablets inside the jail. The only physical mail that will be provided is legal documents like bank statements and court documents, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
“The MailGuard system is a quick and efficient way for inmates to receive photos and letters electronically and will streamline operations within the jail,” said Sheriff Bill Waybourn. “By making this switch, we’re also limiting the amount of items coming into the jail which adds to the safety of our inmates and staff.”
Inmates across the metroplex have been found with contraband this year, including child pornography, marijuana, cell phones, methamphetamine, and other drugs, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
However, some say the transition to digital mail is not smart.
Only receiving digital mail may make inmates feel more isolated while behind bars.
“I remember smelling a piece of mail and smelling my grandmother’s hand lotion on it and feeling attached to my family,” Marci Marie Simmons, a spokesperson with Lioness: Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, said to KERA about her time in jail. “And that’s something that’s being lost with this digital live mail program.”
Simmons told KERA that drawing from an inmate’s children or other physical mail is the only way for people to connect with their loved ones in the outside world.
In 2021, dozens of organizations and advocates wrote a letter to Att. Gen. Merrick Garland to demand the end of the MailGuard system.
“Eliminating physical mail is needlessly cruel, and particularly harmful for incarcerated survivors of sexual abuse, people with a mental illness, LGBTQ people, and other at-risk communities,” reads the letter, in part.
The letter also claims that digital mail compromises the confidentiality of communication and incentivizes corporations to profit from incarceration.
While contraband inside jails is an alarming issue, research has shown that contraband in Texas prisons is most often brought in by staff members.
In November of 2023, a Houston lawyer faced jail time after smuggling in sheets of paper that had been coated with ecstasy and synthetic marijuana during jail visits. The attorney received between $250 and $500 per transaction, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
A federal lawsuit was filed against Tarrant County earlier this year that claims the county failed to keep drugs from reaching people in jail.
The lawsuit cited multiple instances of inmates overdosing from drugs while in a Tarrant County jail. It also alleges that in September 2019, an officer did not search an inmate’s bag, allowing contraband to be brought inside the prison.