The state Department of Corrections policy prohibiting New Hampshire state prison inmates from receiving Christmas cards, greeting cards, picture postcards, and drawings in the mail is being challenged in federal court.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and the law firm Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson, P.A. filed a lawsuit on Dec. 18 in U.S. District Court in Concord, on behalf of a state prisoner’s mother and three-year-old son challenging the constitutionality of the mail policy.
This fall, the prisoner’s mother (Y.F.) mailed her son a Thanksgiving card that also contained drawings by the prisoner’s son (C.F.), according to the ACLU-NH news release.
The card contained the text “I [LOVE] U DADDY” handwritten by C.F. The prison returned the card and drawings, apparently because they violated the mail policy in place since May 1 of this year, the release stated.
Jeffrey Lyons, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said the policy was adopted to stop people from sending Suboxone that looks like Listerine strips to inmates in the mail.
“The main reason for the policy is that people were cutting open greeting cards and slipping Suboxone inside the cards,” Lyons said. The Suboxone strips can also be colored over with crayons and markers, he said.
Lyons said there has been discussion about loosening the policy to allow photocopies of drawings be sent to inmates, but the policy hasn’t been changed.
Gilles Bissonnette, legal director at ACLU-NH, said the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The press release issued by ACLU-NH and the federal lawsuit identify the parties only by their initials.
Bissonnette said their full names and the name of the inmate were not disclosed to protect the identity of the child.
“With this sweeping policy, the state has eliminated one of the few ways young children can communicate with parents who are in prison,” Bissonnette said.
“This is not only cruel, but also counterproductive for New Hampshire’s over 2,300 prisoners and their families waiting for them to come home. Maintaining family bonds is critical for prisoners to successfully reintegrate into society upon release.”
The policy applies to all “drawings” or “other depictions,” all “greeting cards,” and all “postcards from particular locations or featuring any type of printed design, picture, or depiction.”
Bissonnette said to avoid drug smuggling, the mail containing handwritten drawings and cardstock could also be more rigorously inspected by prison officials.
More information on the case can be found at: http://aclu-nh.org/aclu-of-nh-challenges-state-prison-ban-on-mailed-christmas-cards-prayer-cards-and-childrens-drawings/.