After years of writing from a newsroom cubicle for an audience I might encounter at the grocery store, or who could just come in the front door and demand an audience, it’s taken time to adjust to a broader readership.

I’m thankful for emailers who identify a hometown or which Shaw Media masthead is “their” newspaper. Occasionally it’s a geography lesson, but importantly reminds that government policies affect everyone, regardless of for whom (or even if) they voted, as well as the eternal value of considering different perspectives.

All those thoughts coalesced in a recent email from a reader in Bristol, a new-to-me unincorporated Kendall County community. The emailer’s child receives the Kendall County Record each week in prison and directed my attention to MidwestBookPrisoners.org, which supplies books, magazines and other materials to incarcerated people.

The group opposes the Aug. 14 emergency rule allowing the Department of Corrections to intercept mail. According to Wednesday’s Capitol News Illinois report, “books, magazines and other publications can only come through the prison’s mailroom from the publisher,” while personal mail is opened, scanned and provided in either digital form or a paper copy. DOC contracts for this work.

Change proponents – Republicans and labor unions – point to “a series of incidents last fall that left dozens of correctional personnel hospitalized after exposure to substances or overdoses in the prison population,” according to CNI’s Beth Hundsdorfer. Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, pointed to incidents of drug-laced Bibles and letters from fake law firms.

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules will review the issue at its Tuesday meeting. An emergency rule can stay in place for 150 days. If DOC wants the change to be permanent, it has to submit the rule through the conventional process. The Illinois Administrative Procedure Act dictates this delegation of legislative powers to state agencies, which otherwise fall under the executive branch, without depriving the General Assembly of its oversight authority.

JCAR last met Aug. 13 – one day before the current emergency rule. CNI also quoted Jennifer Vollen-Katz, who leads the John Howard Association, a prison oversight group, noting we haven’t yet seen results of a new law requiring seized contraband data.

“There’s no dispute that this is a problem, that even if anyone is impacted by illegal drugs in prisons, we have a problem. That is absolutely the case. The question is, why is IDOC now saying it’s an emergency, right? What has changed? We have not seen any evidence, data or information that indicates what has changed and why this is now being considered an emergency.”

This isn’t a personal issue for most, though deeply affecting whoever it touches. It’s also a separation of powers exercise. Either way, attention is warranted.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.