PILP Sends Letter to DOC Regarding 'Drastic Change' to Mail Procedure

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The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) sent a letter to DOC regarding an update from Secretary of Corrections Wetzel of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) to judges and courts in how physical mail must be addressed. Wetzel’s letter states that all courts will be required to utilize the Control Number system in order for mail to be treated as privileged, a system where a registered “Control Number” must be obtained from the DOC through a registration process and affixed on the outside of each piece of mail. We are extremely concerned about the effective date of March 1, 2021, as the DOC letter to the courts is dated only February 24, 2021, leaving courts only two business days to implement this drastic change, during a time when many court employees are working remotely. Read PILP’s letter here.