Just recently, an apparent attempt1 at drug smuggling in court delayed proceedings in the “Young Thug” trial. Lawyers have been arrested2 for smuggling drugs to clients, and a Nevada corrections officer3 had to go to the hospital after a potential exposure to fentanyl during a cell search. In short, contraband is present in every part of the correctional facility.

The problem is, there is no singular, simple way and effective solution to detect drugs or contraband inside of mail, or a cell, or on an incarcerated person. Current manual screening processes run the risk of staff exposure to dangerous substances and a pat down or X-ray may not reveal a small SIM card or a small amount of powder. This is what you should know about the risk that contraband poses for staff and what steps correctional facilities can take to improve their contraband detection processes.

What Makes Detecting Contraband Difficult?

While every correction facility has unique challenges when it comes to contraband detection there are several that are common across the board—lack of resources, over-population, emerging substances, limited technology, and legal mail privacy challenges. Nearly every correctional facility is understaffed4 and underfunded,5 which makes it difficult for them to adequately screen and prevent contraband from entering the facility. This can impact the implementation and maintenance of comprehensive contraband interdiction measures like the use of advanced technologies and regular staff training.

T-ray imaging can easily detect all types of drugs and contraband that corrections facilities are facing, including drug-treated paper, liquids, powders, weapons, electronics and more. Since these scanners are portable, they can be deployed across multiple facilities with ease, and the scanners are versatile, so they can be used in intake areas and cell searches for soft object screening of personal items like clothes, pillows, and toiletries. The operators can quickly and safely detect and quarantine any potential contraband.

In the future, AI approaches can be applied to enhance imaging solutions, like T-ray, to automatically recognize and alert personnel to potential contraband so they can confirm and quarantine suspect items. These types of technologies will help prisons and jails even further reduce the amount of contraband while also preserving privacy for inmates and safety for staff and compensating for understaffing.

In terms of protocols, it’s important to consider the five parts of a comprehensive mail security operation: people, procedures, education, screening tools, and response plans. For people, you need to analyze your current internal screening staff and find out if there are any gaps or risks. What do your facilities and staff lack that could help them improve? Do you have in-house experts available who have the longstanding smuggling and contraband expertise to recognize substances and help you improve your processes? If not, are there external support resources that you can leverage to fill in those gaps?

Next, examine your procedure and determine the following: Do you have a standardized process for mail screening across all sites and facilities? Does your staff know how to safely handle potentially harmful drugs or toxic substances and simplify your existing procedures? What must occur to ensure adherence to legal mail screening and managing chain of custody if contraband is detected? These are just a few items to plan for. Rather than simply adding to existing procedures, you can use technology and training to improve efficiency and remove unnecessary or manual steps. Standardization and simplification of these processes across all your locations and facilities will help you decrease costs, increase efficiency, and reduce human error.

Third, do you have a training plan to keep your screening staff and officers prepared for the ever-changing trends in contraband detection and smuggling? And are you continually reinforcing and updating those standard operating procedures and retraining new staff during high turnover periods? A solid training platform will include the use of mobile apps, eBooks, webinars, and more to keep staff informed.