Today, talk is cheap.
Literally.
Digital communication platforms like email, messaging apps, and social media are relatively low-cost to use. Users can send messages at little to no expense, making it easy to make declarations or promises without significant resource commitment.
We live in an age of instant digital messaging where the handwritten letter stands as a powerful, intimate form of human connection. This is especially true within prison environments, where such tangible expressions of care serve as lifelines to the outside world. An incarcerated friend once told me they could smell my hand lotion on a letter I sent to them, even after I was careful not to have any scents linger or interact for fear of being photocopied; a scent of familiarity, a gentle reminder of the life outside awaiting them.
I’ve heard people bemoan the educational system moving away from teaching cursive, and before I became a criminal justice advocate, I couldn’t quite understand why. Digital communication was becoming more common, and if you’re like me, you often write in a unique mix of print and cursive, creating your own unique hieroglyphs, in a sense.
But as a member of the Tortured Poet’s Department, I now completely understand.
Handwritten correspondence offers unique benefits that digital alternatives simply cannot replicate; the indent of a pen, hesitation marks while writing a sentence; all of the things that allow our personality to appear on paper.
There are many compelling reasons why prisons should not only allow but encourage this form of communication.
The Tactile Connection
Handwritten letters carry something that digital messages cannot: physical presence. When someone receives a letter, they hold something the sender touched, created, and poured themselves into. For incarcerated individuals, this tangible connection to loved ones provides a rare form of intimacy in an environment where physical contact is severely limited, where some people may not have been hugged in years.
The paper itself becomes a carrier of meaning; the pressure of the pen, the slight smudges, even the chosen stationery all communicate something about the sender’s state of mind and care. These letters can be held, reread, and treasured in ways that digital communications cannot, reconnecting the reader to the sender.
Deeper Thought and Emotional Expression
The process of writing by hand encourages reflection and intentionality. Unlike firing off quick texts or emails, handwriting requires time and deliberation. The writer must consider their words carefully, creating space for deeper emotional expression and more meaningful communication.
For those in prison, receiving these thoughtfully crafted messages demonstrates that someone cared enough to invest significant time in connecting with them. This validation of worth and remembrance can be profoundly healing in environments that work tirelessly to strip away dignity and identity.
Practical Benefits for Rehabilitation
From a rehabilitation perspective, letter writing offers significant benefits:
- It helps maintain and strengthen family bonds, which research consistently shows is one of the strongest factors in successful reintegration
- It improves literacy and communication skills for both senders and recipients
- It provides a constructive outlet for processing emotions and experiences, a powerful tool in restorative justice
- It creates a documented history of support and accountability that can help during reentry, and who knows, could end up in a museum someday, helping others understand the pain of incarceration and reminding them to choose alternatives.
Accessibility Without Technological Barriers
Unlike video calls or email systems that require technological infrastructure and often come with prohibitive costs in prison settings, letter writing is accessible to nearly everyone. It requires only basic materials and can connect individuals regardless of economic status, technological savvy, or institutional limitations.
Privacy and Agency
Letters offer a measure of privacy that is increasingly rare in correctional facilities. While subject to security screening, the contents of letters aren’t recorded in the way digital communications often are. This allows for a precious space of relative freedom in expression and connection.
Challenges and Obstacles
Often in the media, you’ll hear misinformation on why letters should not be allowed, citing drugs getting in through the mailroom. If and when this happens, it’s likely because the mailroom staff is compromised and someone has been bribed into smuggling drugs in (it’s easy to spot – is Bob the Mailroom Guy going on fancy vacations and suddenly decked out in Supreme on DOC Salary? Well that’s your clue he’s likely being bribed).
Mail scanning is sadly increasingly common, and based on multiple DOC’s largely unsubstantiated claims that they photocopy mail to prevent contraband.
It’s yet another place where DOCs are making decisions on knee jerk assumptions rather than data, but that’s another blog post for another time.
The Case for Preserving and Expanding Letter Rights
Despite these benefits, some facilities have restricted traditional mail in favor of digitized systems where letters are scanned and delivered electronically. While security concerns are valid, these policies often diminish the very elements that make handwritten correspondence so valuable.
The right balance would implement reasonable security measures while preserving the irreplaceable human elements of traditional correspondence. Rather than eliminating or severely restricting handwritten letters, correctional facilities should recognize their rehabilitative potential and work to facilitate this form of communication safely.
Conclusion
In our rush toward technological efficiency, we risk losing something profound about human connection. Nowhere is this more evident than in prison communication policies that diminish the role of handwritten letters. By recognizing and protecting this form of correspondence, we acknowledge something essential: that even within correctional environments, we must preserve channels for meaningful human connection that support dignity, rehabilitation, and hope.
The handwritten letter stands as a small but significant affirmation that behind prison walls are human beings deserving of connection, and that sometimes, the most powerful technologies for nurturing our humanity are the simplest ones.
Never wrote a letter to an incarcerated person? Get started here.
And while you’re at it, adopt an inmate here.
