×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
Federal Prisons’ Switch to Scanning Mail Is a Surveillance Nightmare
The Bureau of Prisons has piloted a program that can give authorities “huge secret intelligence into the public sender of postal mail.”
by Lauren Gill, originally published by The Intercept, September 26, 2021
In a Pennsylvania federal prison, Joe used to trace his girlfriend’s handwriting with his …
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- Environmental Indifference, by Anthony Moffa
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- $15,379,091 Judgment Entered Against Delaware DOC’s Former Health Care Provider for Narcotics and Medicare Fraud, by Chuck Sharman
- Report Highlights Force Feeding of Hunger Striking Asylum Seekers by ICE and GEO, by Edward Lyon
- Fourth Circuit Holds CoreCivic Immigration Detainees in New Mexico Not “Employees” Under FLSA
- San Luis Obispo County Jail Conditions Violate Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, by Keith Sanders
- Federal Jury Orders GEO Group to Pay $23 Million for Immigrant Detainee Slave Labor in Washington
- How Trump Made a Tiny Christian College the Nation’s Biggest Prison Educator, by Eli Hager
- BOP Trust Fund Accounts Reportedly Shield Prisoners from Payment Obligations, by Dale Chappell
- $53 Million Settlement in Los Angeles Jail Strip Search Lawsuit Approved, by David Reutter
- Disenfranchisement the Old Fashioned Way, by Jayson Hawkins
- Whistleblower Alleges Hawaii Prison Officials Provided False Audit Data, by Kevin Dayton
- HRDC Sues Lincoln County Wisconsin Jail over Censorship Practices
- Ninth Circuit: Pretrial Detainees Have Right to Direct-View Safety Checks, by David Reutter
- Federal Prisons’ Switch to Scanning Mail Is a Surveillance Nightmare, by Lauren Gill
- Eleventh Circuit: Preliminary Injunctions Have 90-Day Limit Under PLRA; Permanent Injunction Required to Extend Relief, by David Reutter
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Illegal Juvenile LWOP Sentence Undermined Validity of Later Conviction, by Douglas Ankney
- Eighth Circuit Rules District Court Must Use Federal Law for Admissibility of Expert Testimony, by Douglas Ankney
- Too Many In-Custody Deaths of BOP Prisoners are Unnecessary and Preventable, by Casey Bastian
- California Supreme Court: Prisoners Cannot Legally Possess Cannabis, by Casey Bastian
- Public Records Suit Filed Against Florida DOC To Obtain Formula Used To Compute Sentences
- History Professor Fired After Criticizing University’s Racist Past and Pro-Prison Present, by Keith Sanders
- Prison Visitors Have Fourth Amendment Right to Refuse Strip Search and Option to Leave Prison
- Unreliable Drug Tests Standard for Law Enforcement and Prisons, by Keith Sanders
- Massachusetts Prisons Pledge to End Solitary, by Jayson Hawkins
- Civilly Detained Sex Offender Plaintiff Proceeding In Forma Pauperis Not a Prisoner Under PLRA
- $405,794 Paid by California Prison System for Prisoner Killed by Aryan Brotherhood Cellmate
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Sanctions and Award of $118,458 in Attorney Fees Against DOC for Withholding Documents Requested Under Right-to-Know Law
- $170,000 Settlement and New Policy on Gender Identity from Lawsuit Against New Jersey DOC, by Jayson Hawkins
- Texas County Jail Cited for Neglecting the Needs of a Pregnant Prisoner, by Keith Sanders
- Salvation Army Sued for a Failing to Pay Wages to Drug Program Participants
- New Jersey Women’s Prison to Close After Latest Abuse Debacle, by Jayson Hawkins
- Sherburne County, MN, Settles with HRDC for $98,000 Plus New Jail Publications Policy, by Chuck Sharman
- Eighth Circuit Holds Arkansas Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity in Prisoners’ Suit Over Black Mold in Showers, Lack of Cleaning Supplies, by Matthew Clarke
- ABA’s Private Prisons Prophecy Comes to Pass, by Edward Lyon
- Michigan Prisoner’s Corizon Suit Dismissed Due to “Morass of Irrelevancies”, by David Reutter
- Seven Ohio Guards Fired After Killing Prisoner, No Criminal Charges
- Third Circuit: Gratuitous Use of Force on Prisoner Negates Qualified Immunity Defense, by David Reutter
- Delaware Mother Jailed for Not Paying $177 in Fines, Dies in Custody, Nurse Convicted, by Jayson Hawkins
- Forty-One Oregon Prisoner Firefighters have Sentences Commuted
- News in Brief
More from Lauren Gill:
More from these topics:
- Surveillance for Sale: The Data Broker Loophole and the Fourth Amendment After Chatrie, July 1, 2026. Fourth Amendment, rights, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Federal Funds, Tainted Funds.
- Passive Data Transforms Smart Devices Into Covert Witnesses in a Silent Surveillance State, July 1, 2026. Forensic Sciences, Police State-Surveillance, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Electronic Surveillance, Exclusionary Rule.
- Beyond Geofence Warrants: Chatrie, Reverse-Location Surveillance, and the Fourth Amendment Fight Over Digital Dragnets, May 1, 2026. Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Electronic Surveillance.
- Incarcerated Women Featured in True Crime Media Face Flood of Sexual Harassment, March 1, 2026. Sexual Harassment, Prison Labor, Hygiene Supplies, Mail, TV/Movies.
- The “Free Trial” Police State, March 1, 2026. Police State-Surveillance, Enforcement of Immigration Laws, Electronic Surveillance, Privacy Act/Rights, Use of Drones.
- Flock’s Gunshot Sensors Are Expanding to “Distress” Sounds, Feb. 1, 2026. Fourth Amendment, rights, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Recordings, Privacy Act/Rights.
- How AI Integration Used by Law Enforcement Fails the Public, Feb. 1, 2026. Racial Discrimination, False Arrest, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of.
- Modern Drone Surveillance: The Fourth Amendment’s Blind Spot, Feb. 1, 2026. Police State-Surveillance, Use of Drones.
- Federal Funds Now Available for Police Drone Purchases, Jan. 1, 2026. Federal Legislation, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance.
- Mass Surveillance for Profit: Flock’s AI Reports “Suspicious” Movement to Police, Dec. 15, 2025. Contractor Misconduct, Government Misconduct, Protests, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance.