Under 18 U.S. Code § 1702[0], it would appear to be illegal on-its-face for USPS mail to be inspected by prison authorities. > Whoever takes any letter...befor

Under 18 U.S. Code § 1702[0], it would appear to be illegal on-its-face for USPS mail to be inspected by prison authorities. > Whoever takes any letter...before it has been delivered...with design...to pry...or opens...the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. However, there's certainly more to be said about this, as the ACLU's prisoner rights page[1] has this to say about mail in prison: > The First Amendment of the Constitution entitles prisoners to send and receive mail, but the prison or jail may inspect and sometimes censor it to protect security, using appropriate procedures. I've been unable to find any resources identifying under what statutory authority a prison may inspect mail, but I'm unfamiliar with legal stuff, so I think this is a "me-failure". I did find a 2021 article from The Intercept[3] which was informative on giving a similar-perspective, different-author from the submitted ACLU page. [0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1702 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1702 [1] https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/prisoners-rights#i-want-to-send-and-receive-mail-in-prison https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/prisoners-rights#i-wan... [2] https://theintercept.com/2021/09/26/surveillance-privacy-prisons-mail-scan/ https://theintercept.com/2021/09/26/surveillance-privacy-pri...