Mail to Detainees - only 4 days/wk.

Why is it that mail can be delivered to inmates and detainees only on weekdays and not on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays at the McHenry County Jail?

I gave away the e-mail instructions about the Inmate Secure Email Service, but I recall that it said email would only be delivered four days/week and not on Saturdays, Sundays or Mondays.

Why do you suppose that is?

Is $90.00/day per detainee not enough to staff a detention center and include reviewing and distributing incoming email (when there is nothing else more important to do)?

Jails (and detention centers) are obviously operated 24/7. What's the difference between a weekday and a week-end day, other than perhaps an increase in the number of visitors?

Particularly in the case of detainees, contact with the outside world is important. They have families, often overseas, who want to know about their welfare and how to help. Will depression and worse be exacerbated by isolation from the "real" world?

The wheels at Immigration move slowly. Trust me, I have found that to be the case. When a detainee can be assisted to regain his in-status registration, few seem to care except those working on his case. Justice would be better served by facilitating a quick release and return to normal living conditions for those eligible to return to "in-status."

Of course, getting detainees out fast would cut into the income at the McHenry County Jail. At the same time, it would cut the expense of the Immigration Service.

A few months ago there was some "noise" about the low cost of using electronic monitoring. That cost would be about $13/day and would not create nearly the disruption in a person's life that "detention" does.

Don't think I'm going "soft" on immigration laws. Just imagine what it would be like for you, if you were sitting in a jail in Mexico and being held virtually incommunicado. Really. Sit down; close your eyes; think what it would be like for you, and your family, if you (or a family member) were sitting in a jail in a foreign country with very little means of communication allowed, either in or out.