Starting next year, all legal mail sent to inmates in state prisons will be photocopied prior to delivery, with the original documents being shredded. The Michigan Department of Corrections announced the policy this week, with the intention of curbing smuggling. There's a similar policy already in place for standard mail in state prisons.
The department says some lawyers have been caught smuggling contraband in recent months, and some smugglers have impersonated lawyers. In October an attorney from Kent County was arrested and charged with four felony drug counts.
Kyle Kaminsky is the Department of Correction's legislative liaison, he spoke at a hearing of the state House Corrections and Judiciary subcommittee on Thursday. He said a number of illicit materials have been snuck into state prisons, creating an unsafe environment.
"Imagine, and, in no way am I condoning the behavior, but imagine you're purchasing a scrap of paper believing that it's somehow going to get you high and what you're actually ingesting is embalming fluid," he said.
The new policy would have prison staff review all legal documents (without reading or skimming the materials) for contraband before photocopying the materials and handing the photocopies to the inmates.
In addition, the state will use a verification system to confirm the senders of all legal mail. The Department of Corrections uses TextBehind Docs, which it describes as a “technology used to confirm the origin of confidential and legal mail through a reliable and free sender identity verification process.”
Brad Warner is with Humanity for Prisoners. At the hearing, he said the policy does not address low pay for staffers, which drives away guards who are less likely to smuggle drugs.
"Shredding legal mail is just, it's a cheap way to look busy without writing the check for what actually works," Warner said.
Kaminsky disagreed with Warner and said smuggling is a serious problem.
"You can speak to any of our employees that work at a facility, and they will tell you that special handling mail has become a significant problem and source of drugs over the last few years," Kaminsky said.
A bill that would add prison staff to the state police hybrid pension plan is currently stalled amid a lawsuit over whether they should be sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The bills were passed by the Democratic-held state legislature last year but were not formally sent to the governor.
Current House Republican leadership has not sent the bills. They plan to appeal a state Court of Appeals ruling in favor of sending the bills
