New York corrections officials said Friday they have suspended a program that forced families and friends to send care packages to prisoners only through select private vendors, amid an uproar that the move raised costs and limited choices.

“Concerns have been raised by families of inmates regarding the availability and prices of products under this program, concerns we do not take lightly,” Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

In New York, the decision would have severely limited the books prisoners could receive from the outside. One count found that the five vendors combined offered only 77 books, 24 of which were coloring books.

Read the full article about cancelling private prison care packages by Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge at The Marshall Project.