HELP US END MASS INCARCERATION The Prison Policy Initiative uses research, advocacy, and organizing to dismantle mass incarceration. We’ve been in this movement for 23 years, thanks to individual donors like you.

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Figure showing steps for communicating using inbound-only systems: 1) Non-incarcerates user creates account on system and prepays. 2) Composes and sends message. 3) If message is approved by facility, it is printed and distributed to the recipient. 4) If the incarcerated recipient wants to respond, they must send a letter in the mail.

Data Source: Please refer to footnotes of original report. (Graph: Elydah Joyce, 2016)

This graph originally appeared in You’ve Got Mail: The promise of cyber communication in prisons and the need for regulation.

For some electronic messaging systems, the non-incarcerated user sends a message into the correctional facility electronically, but the incarcerated user must respond by postal mail.

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