The Mail In Jail Is Screened In Great Detail Prison Guards Weed Out Drugs And Other Forms Of Contraband

Dozens of parcels sit on a back shelf in the mail room of the Airway Heights Correctional Center, the sprawling compound west of Spokane that is home to 1,400 inmates.

Mailed from throughout the United States, the boxes contain merchandise most people would consider harmless: a hooded coat, towels, tank tops, a charcoal-colored shirt, books, a radio, a vest, a picture frame, jeans, a $55 pair of Reebok basketball shoes.

But behind the fence and barbed wire, the items are contraband because they don’t meet strict prison rules on what is allowed.

Rules prescribe everything from the color of undergarments (white) to the number of handkerchiefs (five) and the maximum cost of an athletic supporter ($10).

Merchandise that doesn’t meet the limitations is returned to sender or donated to charity.

Mail is a big problem for prisons. Drugs on the inside can fetch 10 times their street worth and mail is the main contact inmates have with the outside world.

Like the military, late and lost mail is frustrating and bends morale. Mail that’s not screened properly can lead to lawsuits or spur jealousies and gang rivalry. One item forbidden is gang insignia and colors.

The smooth operation of the prison requires correctional staff and officers to sift through the 5,000 pieces of mail and packages sent monthly to Airway Heights inmates. The goal is to keep ahead of the convicts.

“There are some very sophisticated people on both sides of the fence,” said Rich Hewson, mail-room administrator. “Their whole life is selling drugs and doing illegal things.”

“They’ve got 24 hours a day to come up with new ideas,” added one mailroom corrections officer.

The guidelines may appear strict to family members, but each is there for a reason.

“If you have a silk shirt and they have state issue it may not mean much to you and I. To the guys in here, it’s power and prestige,” said Hewson.

Certain colors can be made to resemble the uniform of correctional officers. Used items may have been altered: Even pages of a book can carry doses of LSD, an hallucinogenic drug that can be passed and sold in prison.

Nude photographs and magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse are allowed as long as the pictures aren’t too explicit or portray child sex.

If there’s any doubt, the photograph or magazine goes to Department of Corrections staff in Olympia to see if its permissible.

“Wives send in naked pictures of themselves,” said Hewson. “It’s allowed as long as it doesn’t violate the policy.”

One magazine that came through Airway Heights last week was being sent to Olympia for an opinion. The April 1996 issue of “The Source” had what appeared to be gang hand signals on the cover underneath a photograph of “Mr. T.”

Even articles can fail the test. One Hustler magazine recently had a piece on the diary of a sex offender that was rejected for distribution inside Washington state prisons.

Newspapers are fine as long as they are sent directly from the publisher. Last year a newspaper coming into Airway Heights had its original pictures cut out and replaced with others that were laced with marijuana, which had been glued to the surfaces.

The publication was packaged and stamped to look as if it came from the publisher, thus bypassing federal postal inspectors.

But it didn’t get past the prison mail staff.

Every package is X-rayed and opened. Letters are scanned for key words that would indicate an escape plan, mail scam or drug operation, then placed back in the envelopes.

Even mail from lawyers and the court system, some 10 percent of the bunch, is opened by prisoners in front of a correctional officer.

That policy came about after officers discovered a prison protest plan being circulated at prisons around the state with letters transferred under a packet of legal papers.

Books, records and tapes are allowed, but prison staff has to make sure materials are paid for in advance with inmate money orders.

“We can’t have inmates going into debt,” said Hewson.

Addresses are always a problem: there are eight Garcias and six Aguliars at Airway Heights and it doesn’t help when a letter last week, addressed in curvy female handwriting with a colored marker, stated simply: to “Big Daddy” from “Little Mama.”

Inmates aren’t allowed to have cash. Still, the mail room staff recently found $60 in a pants pocket, and $10 slipped into a book of stamps.

“Lots of money is spent by parents and I talk to them all the time,” said Hewson. “They say he needs this stuff. They don’t seem to understand how the DOC works. We issue them clothing. We give them everything they need.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: STRICT LIMITS ON FASHION Here are a few of the limitations on clothing sent to state prison inmates: 1 belt (plain leather or cotton mesh, open buckle, no larger than 2 inches square, unlined, no zipper or pockets). 5 handkerchiefs (plain, white only). 1 coat/winter weight (no hoods, not longer than midthigh, no removable liner). 2 pairs shorts (no lycra, no cutoffs or lettered shorts, no less than 4-inch inseam). 5 undershorts (regular briefs or boxer shorts, no bikini style). 2 pairs shoes/boots (sneakers, boots or dress shoes must be 6 inches or less from bottom of heel to top of shoe/boot, 1 inch or less heel thickness. All shoes must pass metal detector, no steel toes or cleats. 2 sweatpants (standard drawstring/elastic waist, elastic or open ankle, only gray color allowed (no charcoal color). 1 pair gloves (cloth or knit only, no padding, no leather.) There are also price limits: socks can’t cost more than $3 a pair to limit designer styles. No women’s clothes are allowed. All items sent to inmates must be bought in a store and in their original wrapping, with a receipt. - Bruce Krasnow