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A26 U.S. NEWS
Dialuna 15 augustus 2022

New York restricts families from sending packages to inmates

(AP) — As part of an ef- inspect the items visually or
fort to keep illegal drugs through an X-ray machine. If
and other contraband out there is reason for suspicion,
of state prisons, New York officers are allowed to open
is taking away one of the sealed packages for further
few pleasures of life be- inspection.
hind bars: It will no longer
let people send inmates Those checks, though, aren’t
care packages from home. perfect, and authorities be-
lieve items slip through.
Under the new policy, which
the state began phasing in Critics of the package ban
last month, friends and fam- questioned its effectiveness,
ily aren’t allowed to deliver noting that prohibited items
packages in person during are sometimes brought in by
prison visits. They also won’t corrupt prison staff.
be allowed to mail boxes of
goodies unless those come California stopped allow-
directly from third-party ing people to send packages
vendors. directly to inmates in 2003.
Instead, inmates and fami-
While the rule won’t stop month, at most. similar practice in 2019. ber of ways: books laced lies can order items through
prisoners from getting items with heroin, weapons and an approved vendor list pro-
that can be ordered online, New York had been one of New York’s Department of unauthorized electronics vided by the state. In Florida,
like a Snickers bar or a bag of the few states in the nation Corrections and Commu- like phones hidden in pack- families also aren’t allowed to
Doritos, they will lose access that still allowed families to nity Supervision said in a ages, and letter mail soaked in send packages from home.
to foods like home-cooked send packages to inmates statement that the two new drugs like methamphetamine
meals or grandma’s cookies. from home. The rule is al- policies are necessary to stop or a synthetic cannabinoid, Prisoner advocates and fami-
ready in effect in a majority contraband. also known as K2. lies of inmates say the pack-
That’s a letdown for people of state prisons. When packages are received age policy is too restrictive
like Caroline Hansen, who Contraband has been smug- by a prison, officers remove — and an added financial
for 10 years hand-delivered Starting this month, the state gled into prisons in a num- the items from the box to burden.
packages filled with fresh prison system is also testing
vegetables, fruits, and meats a program where inmates
to her husband, who is serv- will be blocked from getting
ing a life sentence. most letters sent on paper. Police: Man drives into fundraiser crowd,
Instead, incoming letters will
“When I first started bring- be scanned by computer, and then kills mother
ing him packages, he said he prisoners will get copies.
loved avocados. He hadn’t
had them in about 20 years,” The change is being made (AP) — Pennsylvania toxicology Department bar, that Sura Reyes was not cur-
said Hansen, a single mother to try and head off a trend state police say a man who which was holding an all-day rently a suspect in the fire,
of two who works as a wait- of people soaking letters in was upset about an argu- fundraising event to benefit the cause of which remains
ress in Long Island. drugs to smuggle them past ment with his mother victims of the Aug. 5 blaze in under investigation.
authorities. Multiple states drove through a crowd at Nescopeck that killed seven
“What breaks my heart is, I including Ohio, Wisconsin, a fundraiser for victims of adults and three children. “This is a complete trag-
take for granted having a ba- Michigan, Nebraska and a recent deadly house fire, edy in a community where
nana with my yogurt. Imag- Pennsylvania, already photo- killing one person at the Police say Sura Reyes told there’s already been tragedy,”
ine never being able to eat a copy incoming mail to pre- event and injuring 17 oth- them he drove past the gath- Petroski said.
banana?” she added, saying vent drugs from being deliv- ers, then returned home ering, then turned around
her husband’s prison caf- ered to inmates. The federal and beat his mother to and headed back to the bar Shortly after the crash was
eteria serves bananas once a Bureau of Prisons began a death. “to drive through the crowd reported, troopers were
of
Investigators called about a man “physical-
people.”
Police identified the driver asked how fast he drove into ly assaulting” a woman less
as 24-year-old Adrian Os- the crowd and Sura Reyes re- than two miles away in Ne-
waldo Sura Reyes of Ne- plied “speeding up.” scopeck. Troopers arrived to
scopeck, who was arraigned find local police had arrested
early Sunday on two counts “Video surveillance gathered Sura Reyes and a woman was
of criminal homicide. by the Pennsylvania State dead.
Police corroborates Sura
Police allege in a criminal Reyes’s statement that he Luzerne County Coroner
complaint that Sura Reyes sped up into the crowd pur- Francis Hacken confirmed
said he argued with his posefully,” according to the Sunday that the victim, Rosa
mother at their Nescopeck criminal complaint. D. Reyes, 56, of Nescopeck,
home Saturday evening and was the mother of Sura
while driving through near- Geisinger Medical Center Reyes and had died of mul-
by Berwick was “extremely said it received 15 patients tiple traumatic injuries after
frustrated” and was “tired after the crash, and five re- being hit by a vehicle and as-
of fighting with his mother, mained in critical condi- saulted with a hammer.
including about money, and tion while three were listed
wanted to be done with it.” in fair condition, a hospital In the criminal complaint,
spokesperson said Sunday police say Sura Reyes told in-
At the time, police said, a morning. Seven patients had vestigators he saw his mother
crowd of about 75 people, been treated at hospitals and in the street upon returning
including adults and small released. home and struck her with his
children, had gathered in vehicle, then hit her with a
a blocked-off parking lot Trooper Anthony Petroski III hammer several times.
in Berwick outside the In- told reporters late Saturday