➡T CRIMINAL JUSTICE SOLUTIONS 

IN 

NOV. 04 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

National Institute of Justice 

Drug Detection in Prison Mailrooms 

OWARD 

SHORT 

THE PROBLEM	 The clang of a prison door slamming shut should sound the end to 

a convicted drug user’s substance abuse career. In fact, however, 

the use of illicit drugs by inmates is pervasive, despite the closed 

and carefully supervised nature of prison living conditions. And 

where a demand exists for illicit substances, so, too, does a 

market—even behind bars. One of the most common points 

of entry is the prison mailroom, where incoming envelopes and 

packages are routinely inspected, sorted, and routed.1 Staff must 

screen each item by hand for concealed substances—a daunting 

task if one considers that, typically, several thousand items per 

day pass through. 

BACKGROUND	 The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) sponsored a study to determine whether commercially available drug detection systems, currently used in a variety of settings by the U.S. Customs Service, law 

enforcement organizations, and correctional institutions, can work 

successfully in prison mailrooms. NIJ partnered with the Department of Defense’s Counterdrug Technology Development Program 

Office to study mailroom operations, survey available detection 

technologies, and evaluate those technologies for their potential 

to improve mailroom drug screening. 

Office of Justice Programs ■ Partnerships for Safer Communities ■ www.ojp.usdoj.gov NCJ 205685 
2 THIS STUDY The research team observed and analyzed the mailroom processes of the U.S. 

Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. They then conducted a market survey to find suitable and available detection equipment. Next, at Thunder Mountain Evaluation Center 

in Arizona, they performed a laboratory-based evaluation of several trace detection 

instruments—desktop and handheld ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) and a chemical 

reagent spray—and a bulk detection (x-ray) machine to determine, for each piece of 

equipment shown below, the minimum detection limits for the six drugs of interest 

(marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and LSD). 

Detection Class Type of Equipment Cost of Equipment 

Trace Desktop IMS $40,000–45,000 

Trace Handheld IMS $20,000–25,000 

Trace Chemical Spray $200–500 per kit 

Bulk X-ray Machine $60,000 

The team also created a mock mailroom at Thunder Mountain to evaluate background 

levels of substances within the postal system and the ability of each technology to 

detect varying amounts of marijuana and cocaine concealed within mailing envelopes. 

BOTTOM LINE	 Researchers found that: 

■ The x-ray system could find relatively small amounts of drugs in mail as long as 

the substances were in a compacted form. 

■ In some cases, the trace detection systems had high false alarm rates, judged to 

be the result of “spiked” mail contaminating clean mail during testing and of 

improper adjustment of equipment alarm levels. 

■ Items mailed through the postal system do not pick up substantial amounts of 

drug contamination. 

Researchers concluded from the scenario evaluation that ion mobility spectrometry 

is the technology most likely to enhance mailroom drug-screening effectiveness. 

LIMITATIONS	 Most of the drugs chosen for investigation are difficult to handle and degrade easily 

over time; thus, only cocaine and marijuana were used in the simulated mailroom 

evaluation. However, researchers were able to use the initial laboratory-based evaluation data to predict results for the four drugs not tested in the mailroom scenario. In 

addition, the study only focused on the ability of a technology to detect the presence 

of concealed drugs in the mail. It did not evaluate the speed and efficiency of the technologies, nor did it create or evaluate screening methods for large volumes of mail; 

however, a followup evaluation of ion mobility spectrometers studied various techniques for sampling the mail in batches to reduce overall screening time. 
WHAT’S NEXT?	 IMS equipment is currently being evaluated in actual prison mailrooms to determine 

its operational effectiveness and any impact it might have on workflow, staff acceptance, and training and maintenance requirements. The combination of technical data 

and workflow impact results will be used to develop a strategy for using this technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of drug screening in Federal, State, and 

local prison mailrooms. . 

AUDIENCE	 Prison administrators, prison mailroom inspectors, corrections officers, and 

policymakers. 

FIND THIS The full report of the Mailroom Evaluation Scenario is available online at 

STUDY http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/grants/199048.pdf. 

NOTE 

1. See pages iii–vii in The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Drug Interdiction Activities, 

Report No. I–2003–002, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 

Evaluation and Inspections Division, January 2003. 

For more information on drug detection in the criminal justice system, visit the National 

Criminal Justice Reference Service and browse the topic “Drugs and Crime” at: 

http://fulltextpubs.ncjrs.org/content/FullTextPubs.html 

Also see the following NIJ publications: 

Color Test Reagents/Kits for Preliminary Identification of Drugs of Abuse, 

NIJ Standard 0604.01, July 2000 

http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/183258.pdf 

Guide for the Selection of Drug Detectors for Law Enforcement Applications, 

NIJ Guide 601–00, August 2000 

http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/183260.pdf 

3 

This document is not intended to create, does not create, and may not be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable at 

law by any party in any matter civil or criminal. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document represent a consensus of the authors and do 

not represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The products and manufacturers discussed in this document are presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice. 
PRESORTED STANDARD 

POSTAGE & FEES PAID 

DOJ/NIJ 

PERMIT NO. G–91 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

National Institute of Justice *NCJ~205685* 

Washington, DC 20531 

Official Business 

Penalty for Private Use $300 

Drug Detection in Prison Mailrooms 

IN 

➡T C OWARD RIMINAL JUSTICE SOLUTIONS

SHORT