MOSES Helps Create a Win for Jail Residents
By Sister Fran Hoffman
Throughout the summer of 2025, the MOSES Justice System Reform Initiative (MJSRI) continued to follow Dane County committee meetings. During the Public Protection and Judiciary (PP&J) Committee meetings, MJSRI learned that Sheriff Barrett was proposing a contract with Smart Communications, a for-profit telecom company, to undertake scanning of jail residents’ mail along with its paid options for telephone, video-calling, and tablet services. The Sheriff’s reason for initiating mail scanning was fear that drugs might enter the jail via residents’ mail in the form of drug-soaked paper; he needed to prevent overdoses and possible deaths. The journey to a win for jail residents took several steps.
After listening to PP&J supervisors discuss mail scanning and weighing forceful comments from the public, MJSRI knew we needed more information about the proposed contract and about current jail procedures for dealing with suspicious mail.
So MJSRI met with several supervisors. This led us to Dave Peterson, an IT professional who had familiarized himself with the contract. MJSRI saw a dehumanizing element present here, since jail residents were to be deprived of their original mail and have it replaced by a digitized copy arriving late from an off-site facility, whose quality of reproduction could not be guaranteed. Peterson also raised the issue of residents’ privacy. In this process of discovery, MJSRI learned that there were also questions of trustworthiness about Smart Communications as a for-profit company. Meanwhile, the PP&J voted to recommend denial of the contract with Smart Communications.
Next, the contract was to be discussed before the Personnel and Finance Committee (P&F). I was asked to represent MOSES by making a public comment at the P&F meeting. Other speakers from the public agreed with MJSRI’s recommendation. Here as well, P&F voted to deny the contract.
At the Sept. 4 meeting of the full County Board, the Smart Communications contract was on the agenda. I had begun reviewing articles from Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), so when our task force asked me to again give public comments at the County Board meeting, I was prepared. I said that several articles in PPI had argued that there is no solid evidence that mail scanning reduces drugs in the jail. PPI recommends the availability of medically assisted treatment (MAT) for drug overdoses in a few instances, rather than cutting off a lifeline of communication for all residents and their families.
MOSES joined other advocates in affirming that physical mail carries “good feeling” value for residents, which translates into a more hopeful experience behind bars. MJSRI emphasized that taking away the ability to touch a letter or artwork has real, measurable consequences for mental health, behavior, and even recidivism after release. Residents can return to their mail repeatedly to be reminded of their support network. Scanning mail, on the other hand, causes it to arrive later than the original would; it disrupts correspondence with family, nonprofits, education programs, and ministries. And because scanned mail is often low-quality or incomplete, it lacks the same meaning.
MJSRI planned to target residents’ privacy, an important issue that is not sufficiently protected by the contract. The ownership of information about jail residents or about each of the people who are interacting with residents is not addressed. Section IX of the contract does not restrict the use or sale of raw data or metadata from the telephone/tablet system.
To the surprise of many interested people, on Sept. 4, word came prior to the County Board meeting that Sheriff Barrett was dropping the mail-scanning portion from the Smart Communications contract. This was welcome news. I had registered to present the MJSRI position, so I reasserted our two main points: that Smart Communications policies are exploitative and that they do not protect residents’ privacy. As a for-profit telecom company, “Smart Communications makes it harder for poor people to connect with their support systems, while using these residents as revenue streams.”
Once again I was heartened by the other 16 public speakers and those supervisors whose concerns shone light on the inhumanity of the criminal-legal system. Their statements sought to prevent additional harm to jail residents.
One of the supervisors recommended allowing more time to examine the contract without the mail-scanning component and to consider possible alternatives. Some supervisors suggested extending the County’s existing jail communications contract with ViaPath Technologies for an additional year. (ViaPath had never set up the mail-scanning portion of their services.) The extension would allow time to work toward providing a free communication service, in which the County, rather than jail residents or their families, would pay for services. This seemed to MOSES and to many other advocates to be a positive solution.
In the vote that took place on Sept. 18, 31 supervisors voted against the Smart Communication contract. Only five voted for it. This was a major win for jail residents!