“The main source of contraband inside city jails, though, has been corrections staff, not mail, critics of the policy change said.”
New York’s Department of Correction cites 19 deaths at Rikers last year to justify ending physical mail. The likely contractor is Securus, which would digitize letters and make them searchable. The Vera Institute found no evidence that mail bans in other states stopped drugs, only that for-profit contractors benefit. The guards keep their access, and the families lose theirs.