WASHINGTON DC (WVDN) – Senator Jim Justice introduced the Bureau of Prisons Security Check and Action against Narcotics in Mail Act, also known as the BOP SCAN Mail Act. This legislation would require the Bureau of Prisons to develop and implement a digital scanning strategy to prevent the smuggling of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into Federal correctional facilities by mail:
“Protecting police officers and prison support staff from deadly fentanyl is not a partisan issue and catching it through whatever avenue it is smuggled shouldn’t be either. In West Virginia, far too many lives have been lost due to mailed-in synthetic drugs and fentanyl to correctional facilities. Inmate mail is an often-overlooked smuggling route, but with this bill, we protect correctional officers, prison support staff, and stop deadly drugs from reaching inmates,” said Senator Jim Justice.
Senator Justice is joined in this effort by co-lead Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).
BACKGROUND:
- Inmate mail has become a primary entry point for smuggling drugs into federal correctional facilities.
- As a result, prisons nationwide have seen drug overdoses increase by 600% in recent years, due to the influx of synthetic drugs like fentanyl.
- Countless cases of hospitalizations from drug exposure are occurring at an alarming rate, such as instances at USP Atwater, FCI Thomson, and FCI Waseca.
- The legislation is based on an extremely successful pilot program at FCI Beckley, West Virginia and USP Canaan, Pennsylvania.
- The House bill is led by Representatives Don Bacon (R-NE-2) and Chris Pappas (D-NH-01).
Read the legislation by clicking HERE.
