ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Buffalo Federal Detention Facility has recently updated its security protocols and no longer accepts personal book shipments for detainees, marking it as the first federal detention facility in the country to do so.

For years, volunteer book coordinators for the nonprofit organization, Justice for Migrant Families WNY, had been able to send books to detainees at the detention facility. These books were ordered online by volunteers, shipped directly from distributors like Barnes and Noble, and delivered to the detention facility. However, after the change in protocol in July 2025, these books have been returned to distributors, and volunteers received refunds.

Abigail Cooke, one of those volunteers, believes this ban is less about security and more about intim

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