Tell San Mateo County: Stop For-Profit Tech Companies Denying Mail to Incarcerated People

In 2021, San Mateo County implemented a policy banning anyone incarcerated in its jails from receiving any physical mail (other than attorney communications). Under this policy, families, friends, and supporters of people incarcerated in San Mateo jails must route their letters to Smart Communications—a private, for-profit company—which opens these letters, scans them, and then destroys the physical copy. These scans are kept for at least seven years after the intended recipient leaves the jail—and San Mateo may share them with other entities too. At the same time, incarcerated recipients’ access to these scanned letters is limited: they may only access them at certain times, through a limited number of shared tablets and kiosks in communal spaces within San Mateo’s jails.

This policy invades the free expression rights of those imprisoned in San Mateo jails and everyone who uses physical mail to correspond with them. Physical mail is a lifeline for incarcerated people: it has long been their primary means of communicating with their partners, children, religious advisors, educators, and mental health counselors—those who are often most invested in their rehabilitation. Banning it for an inadequate digital substitute thus runs counter to the criminal justice system's goal of reducing recidivism.

The County’s policy also invades the privacy of both senders and recipients of mail by enabling new and sophisticated surveillance of them. Smart Communications collects a variety of information from the mail routed to it. This information isn’t limited to these letters’ contents; it includes information not found in the mail itself, including details about the sender. The County has unfettered access to this data, and nothing in the contract with Smart Communications limits the company’s use of the information it gathers either.

In May 2023, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, and the Social Justice Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against San Mateo County, arguing that its policy of digitizing and destroying physical mail sent to people in county jails violates provisions of the California Constitution that guarantee freedom of expression and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. Despite attempts by the county to throw out the lawsuit, the legal battle for justice continues.