In April, Cook County Jail declared paper to be contraband. But as university students in the most technologically connected generation in history, we know that paper is nonetheless essential to our daily lives. We know how impossible it would be to learn or even function if our books, documents and our own paper writing were thrown away — let alone photographs, letters and more from loved ones.
These are, however, the measures the jail has chosen to implement. Concerned that illicit substances carried on paper have contributed to several recent overdose deaths, the county’s Department of Corrections has almost entirely banned paper from the facility.
