![icare package for inmates at schenectady ny icare package for inmates at schenectady ny](https://mediaassets.kgun9.com/photo/2016/10/26/Inmates_stuff_care_packages_for_troops_0_48722474_ver1.0_640_480.jpg)
For example, if you are using the kiosk, you can only add $200, initially (with a service fee). You may deposit as much money as you would like to an incarcerated individual's account - the only limitation is how much at a time.Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Home-cooked or baked foods were not allowed even before the new package policy was implemented. It was updated on Augto correct two erroneous examples of the kinds of items prisoners could no longer receive, citing home-cooked meals and cookies. This story was first published on August 14, 2022. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, because of public backlash and criticism. It was quickly rescinded by then-New York Gov. The package restriction was first introduced in 2018 through a pilot program at three state prisons, where families could only send packages through a list of six preapproved online vendors. More than 60 families of inmates sent grievance letters to New York Assemblymember David Weprin, the Democratic chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Correction. “My husband basically thinks this is one more way to deprive him of his basic necessities,” Hansen said. Hansen, whose husband is serving time for killing a cab driver, said having to order goods through vendors that charge “ridiculous prices,” was no solution to the contraband problem.
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“What they’re doing is removing the human component that’s very vital and necessary for the reentry process.” “This is going to be the beginning of the end, where they stop everything under the guise of security and contraband,” said Laracuente, who served two decades in prison for murder and now facilitates workshops that help recently released inmates reintegrate into society. It cost $230 - the kind of money most prisoners don’t have. Marcus Company, which specialize in sending allowed goods to prisoners, but items bought from third-party vendors can be more expensive.īefore his release from Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, former prisoner Wilfredo Laracuente said he was able to order a 35-pound (16-kilogram) package for himself containing packaged cakes, cookies, chips, soaps, shampoo, and some toiletries. Relatives of inmates often rely on private vendors like Walkenhorst and Jack L.
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Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist at the Prison Policy Initiative, called prison food a “nutritional nightmare,” and said some incarcerated people rely on care packages to keep a healthy diet. Prisoner advocates and families of inmates say the package policy is too restrictive - and an added financial burden. In Florida, families also aren’t allowed to send packages from home. Instead, inmates and families can order items through an approved vendor list provided by the state. Those checks, though, aren’t perfect, and authorities believe items slip through.Ĭritics of the package ban questioned its effectiveness, noting that prohibited items are sometimes brought in by corrupt prison staff.Ĭalifornia stopped allowing people to send packages directly to inmates in 2003. If there is reason for suspicion, officers are allowed to open sealed packages for further inspection. When packages are received by a prison, officers remove the items from the box to inspect the items visually or through an X-ray machine. New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said in a statement that the two new policies are necessary to stop contraband.Ĭontraband has been smuggled into prisons in a number of ways: books laced with heroin, weapons and unauthorized electronics like phones hidden in packages, and letter mail soaked in drugs like methamphetamine or a synthetic cannabinoid, also known as K2.