Mail for the incarcerated in Iowa is arriving late. Corrections officials should address the backlog

Drugs are a serious problem everywhere in society. They poison millions every day and claim the souls of so many. So, in the spirit of fighting the evil pandemic of drug use, compromises must be made.

Here in the correctional system one such compromise is that we must funnel our mail through an outside vendor to ensure no illicit substances can pass through into the state’s multiple facilities.

I have no issue with this at all. I am 100% against any and all drug use. It is a useless habit. The problem I have is that in the state of Iowa, we use Pigeonly to filter our mail.

Pigeonly is an outfit out of Las Vegas. Sometimes we can get a letter in three weeks, and others three or four months later. One time I received a letter postmarked earlier than another that I had already received.

Pigeonly is unreliable and has brought mail use in the Iowa Department of Corrections to a near standstill.

Before, our mail unit was always busy every day, now there are only around five to 10 people getting mail every day. And a number of them are newspapers, which are not routed through Pigeonly.

Where is the oversight of Pigeonly? Where is the control? Because this is a major problem.

Many inmates have now decided to use other mediums of communication such as Corrlinks email and using the phone — both of which cost the inmate money to use — as opposed to receiving letters, which could take an obscene amount of time to receive.

I want to see the drug problem eliminated as much as the next guy. I just do not want it to be at the expense of receiving correspondence from friends and loved ones in a timely manner.

I am asking the public to pressure the Department of Corrections into taking the appropriate steps to correct the backlog at Pigeonly so that we may get our mail in a more timely fashion.

Thank you for your time.

Joshua David Mitchell

#6580486

Fort Dodge Correctional Facility

Fort Dodge