Bernalillo County jail will no longer allow physical mail and is taking some items from cells

The Bernalillo County jail will no longer allow inmates to keep personal items like photos and books — outside of religious texts and legal material — in their cells or receive physical mail from family and friends.

Metropolitan Detention Center officials said the new policy was being put in place in an attempt to keep contraband and drugs out of the facility. MDC identifies contraband as any material prohibited by law or material that can cause physical injury or affect facility security.

Starting July 18, MDC will not accept physical copies of any written documents including books, magazines and other literature for inmates, according to a news release. The facility will also no longer accept packages sent to inmates and any sent will be returned to the sender.

“Items such as books and personal effects can be used to conceal contraband within the facility, and so to fulfill MDC’s commitment to the safety and security of staff, inmates and visitors, these items will be removed,” said MDC spokesperson Daniel Trujillo.

He said inmates will only be allowed to keep religious texts and legal material and they will be able to mail other personal items to family and friends for safekeeping.

Under the new policy, any mailed items are to be sent to Maryland, where they will be scanned by a third-party service, Trujillo said. The scanned copies will then be reviewed by MDC staff for “any violations of the inmate mail policy” and, if approved, made accessible to inmates through a tablet computer.

“Inmates will now access this material through a digital library available on tablets,” he said. MDC has approximately 1,000 tablets, a ratio of one tablet for every two inmates, and inmates have access to the tablets during out-of-cell times from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Trujillo said “legal mail, internal education materials and other approved documents” will continue to be delivered physically.

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.

Kate Loewe, an attorney representing those incarcerated at MDC under a class-action settlement agreement, said her clients are reporting “confusion, anxiety and anguish” over the forthcoming policy change.

“It’s not that they are just stopping incoming mail in the future. They are confiscating what people have now,” she said. “Taking pictures of their kids, books they bought from approved retailers, letters from loved ones — that they have in their cells now.”

Loewe said for many of her clients behind bars at MDC, particularly those battling mental health issues, books, art and photos of loved ones bring them “peace in a not peaceful place.”

Trujillo said MDC will continue to allow their care package program. Care packages — typically containing food and hygiene items — are managed by a third-party vendor and are not sent directly by members of the public.

“Because care packages follow a different vetting process and originate from controlled sources, they are exempt from the restrictions outlined in the new mail policy,” he said.

Trujillo said switching to a digital system will not only reduce the amount of contraband going into the detention center but also streamline the process of getting mail to inmates.

The current system requires officers to collect the mail from a remote location and inspect every item before delivery, MDC said.