Christmas in jail

Imagine if you were behind bars. What would keep you going through the darkest days? Probably correspondence with family and friends. That could include hearing a comforting voice on the phone or getting a letter from your spouse or child. But in La Crosse County, both of those things are nearly impossible. The La Crosse jail has a policy preventing inmates from receiving physical mail while they are behind bars. Instead, they use an e-messaging system, so no hand-drawn pictures by the kids, no photos they can hold in their hand. And using the e-messaging system requires payment in the form of stamps those on the outside purchase. Want to include a photo? That costs extra. The Oneida County jail had a similar policy, but that has now been overturned by leaders there. They were under pressure from the ACLU of Wisconsin, which argued “Mail should be fully accessible to incarcerated people, and their ability to stay in touch with others should not depend on how much money they have.” Now the ACLU is targeting the La Crosse County jail, asking them to change their mail policies. Even those incarcerated should have the ability to hold a picture their child drew, rather than some impersonal, electronic communication.