THE NEW YORK CITY Department of Correction wants to stop incarcerated people from receiving physical mail inside city jails. The department, known as DOC, said the proposed changes are part of an effort to increase safety in the jail system by cracking down on illegal contraband following the deaths of 19 people last year at Rikers Island, the city’s jail complex. Several of the people died from apparent drug overdoses, including at least one from fentanyl.

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Prohibiting physical mail would not stop the flow of drugs into the city’s jails but would increase punishment and surveillance for incarcerated people and their loved ones, said Lucas Marquez, the associate director of civil rights and law reform at Brooklyn Defender Services, a public defense group.

“It’s not going to help the overdoses or the use of drugs in the jails, which we know is a problem,” Marquez said. “We know that most drugs come in through staff, and this is not going to have an impact on that.”

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