On March 17, 2022, a Bureau of Prisons employee was diligently inspecting the day’s deliveries in the mailroom of USP Thomson, a federal prison in Illinois. As the officer sorted through hundreds of packages and letters addressed to inmates, he began sweating and feeling short of breath. Soon, he was vomiting and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital. Tests revealed the officer had unknowingly come into contact with 19 pieces of mail saturated in a potent amphetamine.
The postal system is the central battleground in the forever war between drug dealers and corrections officials. Recently, the tide has turned in favor of traffickers, who have innovated new ways of infusing dangerous narcotics directly into everything from children’s drawings to love letters. Paper, ink, and stamps are all vehicles for contraband. There have even been reports of inmates rolling joints with family photos laced with fentanyl.
A new bill introduced by Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) proposes new procedures for handling mail that have the potential to disrupt the flow of drugs into federal correctional institutions. It requires the director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to come up with a strategy to achieve three basic goals. These include scanning 100 percent of all incoming mail at federal correctional facilities, providing inmates an electronic copy of their mail within 24 hours of its reception, and delivering the original mail within 30 days if it’s drug-free.
