CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit challenging the New Hampshire Department of Corrections’ prison mail policy, and inmates will now be allowed to receive some handmade drawings.
Prison officials had complained that inmates were getting the prescription drug Suboxone smuggled in via heavy, card-stock paper, hidden beneath stamps or stickers or smeared between layers of crayon drawings.
The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the department in 2015 on behalf of an inmate whose 3-year-old son sent a Thanksgiving card to him that included drawings and the handwritten message: “I (heart) U DADDY.” They were on coloring paper provided by the prison’s Family Connections Center.
The ACLU said the state went too far. The settlement allows pen-and-pencil drawings, but no greeting cards or thick stationery.
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