What must be done to legal mail upon receipt?

What must be done to legal mail upon receipt?

• A. Open in the presence of the inmate
• B. Read aloud to the inmate before delivery
• C. Attach a summary of contents with the envelope
• D. Discard if the inmate does not sign for it

Answer: (A)

Handling legal mail centers on protecting the privacy and rights of the inmate in communications with attorneys or the courts. The best practice is to open legal mail in the inmate’s presence. This ensures the inmate can verify that the correspondence is indeed from a legitimate legal source and that nothing tampered with the message, while keeping the contents confidential from staff unless needed for lawful inspection. Reading the contents aloud would expose privileged information and violate confidentiality, and attaching a summary would reveal details that should remain private. Discarding mail if there is no signature isn’t appropriate either; legal mail should be delivered and logged and dealt with according to policy, not discarded.