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 staff and inmates.
The system called TextBehind is a multi-purpose document system designed to minimize the entry of contraband into correctional facilities, in part by streamlining the management of bulk mail.
Mail is of particular concern because blotting paper can absorb fentanyl and other narcotics like LSD, which can then be distributed through the mail. That poses risks to inmates and postal workers, experts say.
Jenni Riehle, Corrections’ public information officer, said the department is in the early stages of implementing TextBehind. The system requires those who wish to send mail to an inmate to register.
“We are still in the early stages. It’s only been two weeks since this system was open for registration,” Riehle said. “We are already seeing the benefits of a service like this for our staff, and it will also benefit the population who receive this mail.
The new mail process will also help prisoners process appeals related to their convictions.
“They will be able to obtain their legal documents more quickly by certified mail. This can help them if they are working on their case or going through different legal scenarios,” Riehle said.
Zia Rana, CEO of TextBehind Inc., said the policy is to reject all lawyer mail that does not have a valid QR code. The company is based in Maryland.
When the system is in place, “only the real sender will have all the documents we need, such as bar license, photo ID, etc., which means that if you are still able to send medicines, our system will find the sender,” Rana said.
According to Rana, the states the company works with have a policy of not distributing mail to prisoners until they have passed the TextBehind exam.
TextBehind will verify the documents within 24 hours.
He said the 24-hour verification period serves as a checkpoint and so on. Every time a registered person sends mail, it is checked by humans, as well as artificial intelligence, to ensure that the timing and code match and that it does not contain any contraband.
Edward Freeman, Department of Corrections project manager, “this helps authenticate the sender and streamlines the process, as well as improves the safety of our staff when processing mail before it reaches the perimeter . »
Corrections administrative assistant Norma Killough, who is working on the TextBehind rollout, said: “We’re just going to scan the QR code on the mail and find out where it’s coming from, so that’s going to save us a lot. time. »
According to Rana, for “every prison mailroom we work with, we reduce their effort and money consumption in the mailroom by about 85 percent when they use our system.”