After numerous drug incidents, a third-party mail scan is now coming to Minnesota prisons
In an effort to crack down on drugs and other contraband entering the state’s prisons, the Minnesota Department of Corrections is launching a new mail management system through a private Maryland vendor.
The new half-million dollar contract with TextBehind comes after a multi-day lockdown at the Stillwater prison in September, where nine corrections officers were treated for exposure to synthetic marijuana, according to the corrections department.
Although agency officials are still investigating the incident, they believe mail was involved soaked in K2 and then smoked in prison.
Commissioner Paul Schnell says his agency is seeing an increase in similar cases — with an estimated two dozen employees treated for drug exposure this year — and that emergency action was needed.
Currently, corrections officers scan incoming mail and make copies for incarcerated people at some state facilities.
“This creates incredible efficiencies for us, and right now we’re spending a lot of time and a lot of money,” Schnell said. “In some cases we looked at toner costs in one facility alone, which were almost $20,000 per month.
“So when we started adding, look at the business side of this, this vendor proposal, we believe in the long term, will save money and really make it absolutely safer because that mail never comes into the facility. ”, he added.
RELATED: Multiple investigations have been opened into illegal drug smuggling at Stillwater prison
The new system, which goes live Friday, requires family and friends to send email to TextBehind’s office, about 20 miles north of Baltimore. The company processes the mail and returns copies to Minnesota corrections facilities.
TextBehind also has a free mobile app that allows loved ones to stay in touch with incarcerated people.
The change will also affect the way inmates communicate with lawyers and others who use legal mail. Now, lawyers and similar senders will have to be verified with the DOC via the TextBehind system.
TextBehind
“This initiative goes beyond safety,” Schnell said in a statement. “It represents our commitment to modernizing corrections for the benefit of staff, incarcerated people and their families.”
RELATED: Minnesota DOC addresses safety concerns at Stillwater prison
In 2022, the nonpartisan Prison Policy Initiative estimated that at least fourteen other states were scanning mail, including at least two others that use TextBehind. A year earlier, Corrections officials in Wisconsin announced a partnership with TextBehind after reporting a similar increase in the number of medications arriving through the mail.
The Prison Policy Initiative warns of a “chilling effect” created by email scanning, as people do not want their communications scanned into a searchable database. Schnell also expected some pushback after hearing similar complaints about not having the actual, physical piece of mail.
“The goal of safety must trump these concerns,” Schnell said. “And I think people understand that it’s a challenge, it’s difficult, but this is where we are today.”