Bernalillo County jail confiscated books, stopped mail to curb contraband — is it working?

More than a month ago, the Metropolitan Detention Center confiscated personal possessions like books, letters and photos from inmates in an attempt to stem the flow of contraband in the jail — which has seen a rash of overdoses and deaths of those in detox.

A month in, jail officials said it was too early to comment on the policy’s effectiveness, while attorneys who represent inmates have called its implementation harmful and dehumanizing.

Beginning July 18, MDC stopped accepting physical copies of books, magazines and other literature, now providing them digitally on tablets.

A mother whose son is an inmate at MDC used to send him books about substance abuse recovery and novels to pass the time, all of which were confiscated, she said. The woman spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing that her son might face retribution at the jail.

“What do they expect them to do all day?” she said Friday.

Inmates are allowed to have physical copies of Narcotics or Alcoholics Anonymous books if provided by the in-house medical and addiction treatment provider; otherwise, digital copies are available for free on tablets, said MDC spokesperson Candace Hopkins.

Educational materials are free to access on the tablets, Hopkins said, but inmates will have to pay for some fiction books, particularly newer releases.

The woman said her son’s NA workbook, along with all his other books, were sent through a bookseller licensed with the jail, like Barnes & Noble.

The books available for free, according to the mother, included classics like “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville and “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy, books that are too dense and tedious for her son to enjoy.

Books, among other paper possessions, needed to be confiscated due to incidents of inmates concealing drugs and other contraband inside of them, Hopkins said. Drugs and contraband were also sent through the mail to the jail, she said.

From October 2022 to July 2023, drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine and cannabis were seized from inmates at the facility more than 180 times, in quantities large and small, according to MDC reports obtained through an Inspection of Public Records Act request.

With tablets now serving as one of an inmate’s only tangible connections to the outside world, some have questioned whether they have sufficient access.

“What we’ve heard is there are not enough tablets for people,” said Kate Loewe, an attorney representing those incarcerated at MDC under a class-action settlement agreement. “I am worried for people’s mental health — locked down for hours with no access to something to read, something to calm you in the night.”

There are approximately 1,000 tablets — a ratio of one tablet for every two inmates — at MDC and they can be used between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Family members looking to send their loved ones mail now must send it to Maryland, where it is digitized and sent to tablets in the jail. The process of digitizing mail is run by Viapath, Bernalillo County’s phone and tablet vendor, and comes at no additional cost to the county.

There was always a delay in sending mail, said the inmate’s mother, but while mailing physical letters used to take days, through the new process it’s taken at least a week.

Putting more resources into the jail’s addiction clinic to cut down on the waitlist for care is a better fix, Loewe said, than taking away an inmate’s personal items.

“That would be a more humane and evidence-based way of curbing contraband,” Loewe said.

The new policy around personal items isn’t forward-thinking, the mother said, pointing out that many inmates at MDC are either awaiting trial or are serving time for minor crimes.

“They’re all going to get out someday, and are we making it easier or harder for them to live a good life when they get out?” she said.