How Ohio Prison Staff Open and Read Confidential Legal Mail

Prisons Need Their Own Post Offices, Not That We’ll Ever Get Them

Back before the COVID-19 pandemic when the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) still had corrections officers, the first shift would be in a hurry to deliver our mail, because it was the last thing they had to do before they went home. These days, mail is handled somewhat differently. “Pretty regularly I would receive a month’s worth of mail in one day,” J* who left Central State Prison in early 2025, told Filter. “For years there was a big …

How Ohio prison staff open and read confidential legal mail

An anti-drug smuggling policy has slowed the delivery of time-sensitive court documents as prison staff read letters protected by attorney-client privilege.

Lawyers Allege State Employees Are Opening Confidential Prison Mail

An anti-drug smuggling policy has slowed the delivery of time-sensitive court documents as prison staff read letters protected by attorney-client privilege.

How Ohio prison staff open and read confidential legal mail – The Land

This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project – Cleveland, a nonprofit news team covering Ohio’s criminal justice systems. Sign up for their Cleveland newsletter and Facebook Group, and follow The Marshall Project on Instagram, Reddit and YouTube. To appeal his conviction for burglary and related charges, James Bishop needed the legal papers a Jefferson County court clerk had mailed him in prison. But mailroom staff at Ohio…

How Ohio prison staff open and read confidential legal mail - Signal Cleveland

To appeal his conviction for burglary and related charges, James Bishop needed the legal papers a Jefferson County court clerk had mailed him in prison. But mailroom staff at Ohio’s Noble Correctional Institution decided there were too many pages. They gave Bishop two options: Have the legal documents destroyed, or pay $4.61 in postage to send them back to the court. When he refused either choice, correctional officers labeled the more than 60 p…