Michigan rolls out technology to reduce contraband in prison mail

LANSING —The Department of Corrections will implement a new system in January designed to significantly reduce the amount of contraband sent to prisoners and ensure the safety of the staff and inmates.

The system called TextBehind is a multi-purpose document system designed to minimize contraband getting into correctional facilities, in part by streamlining bulk mail management.

Mail is a particular concern because blotter paper can absorb fentanyl and other narcotics like LSD, which then can be distributed through the mail. That poses risks to inmates and to the mail handlers, experts say.

Jenni Riehle, a Corrections public information officer, said the department is in the beginning stages of implementing TextBehind. The system requires those wishing to send mail to an inmate to register.

“We are in the infancy of this. We’ve only had that system open for registration for two weeks now,” Riehle said. “We’re already seeing the benefits of a service like this for our personnel, and it’s also going to be beneficial to the population receiving this mail.” 

The new mail process also will help prisoners working on appeals related to their convictions.

“They are going to be able to obtain their legal documents in their certified mail in a quicker manner. That can help if they are working on their cases or going through different legal scenarios,” Riehle said.

Zia Rana, the CEO of TextBehind Inc., said the policy is to reject all mail from lawyers that doesn’t have a valid QR code on it. The company is based in Maryland.

When the system is in place, “only the genuine sender will have all the documents that we require like the [attorney’s] bar license, photo identification, etc., which means if you are still able to send drugs, our system will find the sender,” Rana said.

According to Rana, the states that the company works with have a policy of not distributing mail to prisoners until after it has passed the TextBehind review.

TextBehind will verify documents within 24 hours. 

He said the 24-hour verification period serves as a checkpoint and that. Every time a registered person sends mail, it’s checked by humans, as well as artificial intelligence, to make sure the timing and code matches and there is no contraband in it.

Edward Freeman, a Corrections Department project manager, “It’s authenticating the sender and streamlining the process, as well as enhancing the safety of our staff as they handle the mail before it gets to the perimeter.”

Norma Killough, an administrative assistant at Corrections and who is working on the rollout of TextBehind, said, “We’re just going to scan the QR code on the mail and know where it came from, so it’s going to save us a huge amount of time.”

According to Rana, for “every prison mailroom we work with, we reduce their effort and consumption of money in the mailroom by about 85% when they use our system.”