I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5266 

To require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to develop and implement 

a strategy to interdict fentanyl and other synthetic drugs in the mail 

at Federal correctional facilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 25, 2023 

Mr. BACON (for himself, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 

PAPPAS, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to develop 

and implement a strategy to interdict fentanyl and other 

synthetic drugs in the mail at Federal correctional facilities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Interdiction of 

5 Fentanyl in Postal Mail at Federal Prisons Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Bureau of Prisons has 122 institutions 

2 located throughout the United States, employs near3 ly 38,000 employees, and is responsible for more 

4 than 150,000 Federal inmates. 

5 (2) Inmate mail is a primary entry point for 

6 smuggling drugs into correctional facilities, with 

7 tainted mail incidents also on the rise. 

8 (3) Elimination of dangerous contraband, in9 cluding synthetic drugs, in mail is essential to pro10 tecting the health and safety of employees of the Bu11 reau of Prisons and Federal inmates. 

12 (4) Prisons in the United States are increas13 ingly deadly facilities, with a 600 percent rise in 

14 drug overdoses in recent years. 

15 (5) The introduction of synthetic drugs, par16 ticularly fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, into cor17 rectional facilities by mail threatens employees, in18 mates, and the security of correctional institutions, 

19 and the practice of deliberately lacing opioids to en20 sure targeted lethality represents a dramatic emerg21 ing concern. 

22 (6) The foregoing factors add tremendous pres23 sures and workload that further burden existing em24 ployees, commonly reassigning officers from other 

25 functions to assist in processing mail. 


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1 (7) Employees at correctional facilities at Fed2 eral, State, and local levels continue to request drug 

3 interdiction technologies to protect themselves and 

4 inmates. 

5 (8) A congressionally authorized digital mail 

6 scanning pilot program at the Federal Correctional 

7 Institution, Beckley, West Virginia, and the United 

8 States Penitentiary, Canaan, Pennsylvania, from 

9 March 2020 through June 2021, demonstrated ef10 fective interdiction technology and practices aimed 

11 at eliminating dangerous contraband arriving 

12 through the mail and served as an effective deter13 rent to smuggling attempts. 

14 (9) Apart from digital mail scanning, there is 

15 no widely deployed interdiction technology that has 

16 demonstrated a 100 percent efficacy to detecting 

17 fentanyl, and other synthetic drugs, arriving through 

18 the mail at Bureau of Prisons facilities. 

19 (10) Removing mail processing from Federal 

20 prisons and relieving Bureau of Prisons employees 

21 from mail sorting duties will result in an extensive 

22 budgetary relief to the Bureau and decrease the 

23 staffing shortages facing prisons. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) The term ‘‘opioid’’ has the meaning given 

2 such term in section 102 of the Controlled Sub3 stances Act (21 U.S.C. 802). 

4 (2) The term ‘‘synthetic drug’’ means a con5 trolled substance analogue (as such term is defined 

6 in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

7 U.S.C. 802), and includes any analogue of fentanyl. 

8 SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO INTERDICT SYNTHETIC DRUGS IN 

9 POSTAL MAIL. 

10 (a) EVALUATION.—Not later than 180 days after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau 

12 of Prisons (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Director’’) shall 

13 evaluate— 

14 (1) Federal correctional facilities’ acquisition 

15 and deployment of synthetic drug interdiction equip16 ment; 

17 (2) Federal correctional facilities’ use of tech18 nology services to scan mail; and 

19 (3) whether any technologies used by other 

20 Federal agencies to intercept and interdict contra21 band in the mail may be used by the Bureau of Pris22 ons. 

23 (b) STRATEGY.—Not later than 90 days after com24 pleting the evaluation under subsection (a), the Director 

25 shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the SenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Aug 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5266.IH H5266

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1 ate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

2 Representatives a strategy to provide all Federal correc3 tional facilities with capabilities necessary to— 

4 (1) protect staff and inmates from exposure to 

5 synthetic drugs and opioids introduced to facilities 

6 through the mail; 

7 (2) ensure that— 

8 (A) not later than 24 hours after a piece 

9 of mail is received at a Federal corrections fa10 cility, each inmate receives a digital copy of any 

11 mail that is addressed to the inmate; 

12 (B) not later than 30 days after receiving 

13 a digital copy of a piece of mail under subpara14 graph (A), the inmate receives the original 

15 physical copy of any mail that— 

16 (i) does not contain synthetic drugs or 

17 opioids; and 

18 (ii) is addressed to the inmate; and 

19 (C) delivery to the inmate under subpara20 graphs (A) and (B) is documented; and 

21 (3) achieve 100 percent scanning capacity of 

22 mail arriving at all Federal correction facilities. 

23 (c) CONTENTS.—The strategy required under sub24 section (b) shall— 


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1 (1) identify critical information technology, dig2 ital mail scanning equipment, and mail scanning 

3 services necessary to achieve the scanning capacity 

4 described in subsection (b)(3); 

5 (2) include an assessment of operational and 

6 logistical considerations, including— 

7 (A) prioritization of high security and 

8 large inmate population facilities for digital 

9 mail scanning infrastructure and security tech10 nology deployment; 

11 (B) any need for additional personnel and 

12 technology training necessary to implement the 

13 strategy; and 

14 (C) scanning equipment maintenance re15 quirements and periodic digital technology up16 grades; and 

17 (3) include an equipment and technology budg18 etary proposal, for fiscal years 2024 though 2026, in 

19 order to fully implement the strategy described 

20 under subsection (b). 

21 (d) ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTS.—Beginning 1 

22 year after the date on which the strategy is submitted 

23 under subsection (b), and each year thereafter, the Direc24 tor of the Bureau of Prisons shall submit to the Com25 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 


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1 on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report 

2 on the efficiency of the strategy and the total quantity 

3 of detected synthetic drugs and opioids. 

Æ 


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