Key Points:

• State prison system digitizes letters, greeting cards, drawings sent to inmates

• Department hopes to stop flow of illicit drugs, contraband, bring greater safety

• Families, former inmates warn loss erodes human connection, rehabilitation

For years, Valerie Barsevich, a retired educator, has kept in touch with one of her elementary school students. She taught her brother, too. She watched her grow up, and she became a close friend of the family. 

Her former student is now incarcerated at Arizona State Prison Complex Perryville. Since her former student’s incarceration, Barsevich has regularly sent handwritten notes and words of support.  And though occasional delivery delays have been a bit cumbersome, Barsevich said the letters have been a lifeline. 

But now, as the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry moves to digitize all general mail sent to inmates, Barsevich’s letters will no longer end up in her student’s hand. 

Instead, Barsevich’s letters will be sent to Texas, transcribed, scanned, uploaded to a tablet and eventually destroyed. 

In a recent message, Barsevich’s student said the change took away the last shred of feeling human. 

 “It’s just tragic to think she doesn’t even have those little things to hold on to, to know my loved one touched this, and a part of them has come to me,” Barsevich said. 

Effective Dec. 15, the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry will no longer deliver inmates’ physical general mail, meaning all handwritten letters, drawings, photos and greeting cards must be sent to a processing facility for scanning, transcription and delivery digitally. 

The department makes the case for safety and security by switching from physical mail to scans, which blocks one entry point for contraband and illicit drugs. 

Meanwhile, criminal justice reform advocates and those close to people currently incarcerated brace for the change, carrying concerns over complete, timely and correct delivery of correspondence and inmate access amid limited tablets and kiosks. 

But beyond implementation, there is the fear that the loss of one of the last tangible connections to the outside – the handwritten letters, greeting cards, drawings and photos from friends and family – will worsen already low morale.

“They have so little that they can cling to,” Barsevich said.

Mail scanning has been on the department’s radar for some time now. 

The first two budget requests submitted under Director Ryan Thornell identified funding an off-site mail scanning program as a top priority, as contraband coming in through parcels or via paper saturated with liquified drugs put both staff and inmates in harm’s way.

A budget allocation never materialized, but in September, the department amended contracts with companies handling inmate communications and tablets – Securus Technologies and JPAY – to wrap in digital mail scanning services at no extra out-of-pocket cost.  

Under the agreement, all non-privileged mail will be forwarded to a P.O. Box in Dallas, Texas, collected every weekday morning and transported to a processing center.  

Contractor staff then vets for illegal substances and contraband, scans and transcribes all envelopes and contents into digital text. 

The contract also requires Securus to create customized watch lists to flag certain words, recipients and senders for additional review, with any problem communications selected for further evaluation. 

All cleared mail is uploaded for review and distribution to inmate tablets and kiosks. Per the contract, all mail should be processed and digitally delivered within 48 hours of receipt from the post office, and will be destroyed after a 90 day retention period.

The public first got wind of the coming change in November at the tail end of a press release. 

Four women at Perryville San Carlos Unit were hospitalized for “seizure-like” symptoms brought on by illicit drug use, painting a clear example of the “negative consequences of drug-soaked paper being trafficked into prison units from outside sources via the U.S. mail.” 

Though the department did not provide a specific number of cases of contraband entering through the mail, the latest monthly data report showed that drugs accounted for the majority of contraband cases, averaging around 252 instances per month between October 2024 and 2025. 

And this year, the department reported 13 overdoses under self-injurious behavior and three as suicide attempts. 

The department segued the incident at Perryville into a plan to “modernize and digitize general mail.”An official announcement followed on Nov. 25, with a plan instructing senders to re-route to Texas starting Dec. 15, with a one-month grace period.

Criminal justice advocates already anticipate problems in implementation.

For one, not all inmates have a tablet.

In the ongoing health care class action lawsuit against the department, plaintiffs’ counsel recently visited Arizona State Prison Complexes Lewis and Eyman and reported speaking with dozens of people who lacked a functioning tablet, with a wait list now stretching anywhere from three to six months and a replacement carrying at least a $150 fee. 

“Many reported that, despite repeated requests, they had been without a working tablet for weeks or months. Many showed us their tablets and demonstrated that they were not working,”  Maria Morris, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project, wrote in a report to the court. 

Barsevich noted, too, that though her loved one has a functioning tablet, she can go days without hearing back due to internet connectivity and technical issues. 

“I don’t hear a lot from her, not because she’s not wanting to respond to me,” Barsevich said. 

The department plans to provide kiosks to inmates without tablets, but advocates noted that staffing considerations accompany access, too. 

Per the latest monthly report, the number of correctional officer vacancies are slowly decreasing, but the department is still down about 832 positions as of October 2025.  

Donna Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground Prison Reform, said that if visiting kiosks require a correctional officer to escort and monitor each visit, limited personnel and high inmate populations could curtail the ability to receive mail in a timely manner. 

“How often are they going to escort an inmate out in chains, if he’s in maximum custody or if he’s in detention? Are they going to do it once a week? Are they going to do it once a month?”  Hamm said. “Does he have to go back to his cell and memorize everything that was in a five page letter from his grandmother or his wife?”

The department clarified it would provide black-and-white print-outs if kiosks or tablets were unavailable. 

But even if all goes smoothly, even if an inmate timely receives a complete scanned letter, drawing or photo on their tablet, through a kiosk, or as a printed piece of paper, advocates, inmates and their loved ones say it’s not the same as holding a message in hand. 

John Fabricius, executive director of criminal reform group Praxis Initiative, spent 15 years incarcerated and said mail delivery could either be the best or worst part of the day depending on whether the correctional officer stopped by your bunk. 

He still has letters from his late brother and mother, who he lost when he was incarcerated. He remembers how crucial the connection was to his rehabilitation.

“That’s your only beacon of hope,” Fabricius said. “If you’re by yourself, if you don’t have a way to pick up the phone or have a visitation, that mail is everything. It’s your connection to society. It’s your connection to your family. It’s your connection to the world.” 

Despite the change to digital, Barsevich said she would continue to send letters. 

“I don’t want her to give up. I want her to keep that clean record while she’s serving. I want her safety. I want her mental health and physical well being… I will continue sending it just because she’s got to have that contact,” Barsevich said. 

“Most people need something that gives them hope. And I think contact gives you hope, because people can inspire one another to do great things. That’s what I will do for her as long as I can.”