Families of Illinois prison inmates and legal advocates spoke out this week against a new program at the Illinois Department of Corrections that restricts incarcerated people’s access to incoming mail and in some cases only allows them to see electronically scanned images of letters and other correspondence.

IDOC announced in August that it was launching the program as an effort to prevent drugs and other kinds of contraband from getting inside state prisons. But critics of the program argued it violates prisoners’ civil rights and said there is little evidence to suggest such a program will have any effect.

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