I have decided to write this because I have recently been robbed on two occasions by, I believe, someone working in my local Post Office. A couple months ago, I was to receive an inheritance check in an amount exceeding $50,000, but I never received it. In the same week, I sent, from my residential mailbox, my new wife our Marriage Certificate. She never received that. Also, in the same time frame, I noticed many “stiff-paper” mailings had been opened if the originator’s identity could not be determined form the return address on the envelope. I reported my concerns to the Georgetown Postmaster, and was given very little in the way of support. He basically said that tracking individual pieces of mail was next to impossible, and that the Post Office couldn’t be responsible.
His statements in this matter remind me of other, similar refusals to do their jobs on the part of local Postmasters in other parts of the US. Federal law and US Postal Service regulations place certain requirements on the handling of mail for those institutionalized for various reasons. The requirements include that mail be delivered to the intended recipient promptly upon completion of necessary security measures, that the mail be unedited or censored, and that mail only be “scanned” for keywords. These regulations have been emplaced over the years to ensure that inpatients and inmates not be denied their fundamental right to regular communication with friends, loved ones and family and to ensure that they are not subjected to unlawful abuse or discrimination as a result of conveying their thoughts and opinions in private correspondence. In many places, these laws and regulations are regularly ignored and violated with the full complicity of the local US Postal Service agents. Their response is usually along the lines of lacking responsibility for enforcement once the mail is delivered to an institution; however, statements to such effect are false.
Less than three years ago, in either Randolph or Lawrence County, Arkansas, the jail actively censored mail, incoming and outgoing, and would actually mark out words and passages deemed offensive. One inmate reported that any less than complimentary reference to the jailers in either incoming or outgoing mail would be blacked out with a marker and result in the “offending” inmate being placed in solitary. This sort of censorship is fundamentally illegal and the retributive punishment is outrageously so.
In Sharp County, Arkansas, the Sheriff and deputies regularly photocopy all mail for supposedly investigative purposes. This is a criminal act in itself, but it is additionally so as they usually share these photocopies with just about anyone they please. At one point, as a result of misconduct and abuse, an Arkansas State Police officer was barred from any contact with an inmate or involvement with his case. The Sheriff continued to share that inmate’s correspondence with the barred officer. The officer had been barred regarding the inmate because, during the serving of a void, out of state warrant, the officer had shot the unarmed, underwear-only-wearing individual in the back.
Most penal institutions that I have known regularly hold mail for unusual periods of time, deliberately delaying delivery after all necessary security measures have been taken. In most locations, it is reasonable to expect that mail be delayed for a day or two and then delivered at the beginning of the second shift, usually between 4 and 6 PM. This is the practice required by law and regulation. However, most places actually allow the jailers to deliver whenever they please, in violation of the regulations. If an inmate or patient complains, then they can expect to see their mail delayed even further, sometimes as long as two weeks.
All of these practices have been raised with the local and regional postmasters, who have, barring a court writ of mandamus, generally excused themselves from enforcement. This appears to be a case of viewing the victims of these crimes as deserving of the unconstitutional punishment and sharing the view that the inmates and patients won’t be able to mount a legal effort to demand the law be enforced. As a consequence of the irresponsibility of local postmasters in many locations, federal crimes against institutionally captive persons are committed by the thousands every day.
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