Correctional officers and staff in some federal prisons are putting their lives in jeopardy simply by processing mail intended for inmates – and a federal oversight agency is calling for action.
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the findings of its investigation into repeated drug exposure incidents involving staff at Federal Correctional Institution Thomson in Illinois.
OSHA issued citations to the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and FCI Thomson identifying serious violations of health and safety protocols at the facility and making recommendations intended to reduce the risk of hazardous exposure to synthetic drugs that enter federal prisons through the mail.
OSHA’s findings referenced several exposure incidents at Thomson that required medical evaluation for staff and routine Narcan administration. These incidents included exposures to substances such as fentanyl, amphetamines, and synthetic cannabinoids concealed in inmate mail.
AFGE Local 4070, the local representing correctional officers and staff at FCI Thomson, has been calling for the agency to address the dangers for some time.
“The reason we keep pushing this is we firmly believe that if nothing changes, another staff member will die,” Local 4070 President Jon Zumkehr told the news outlet Our Quad Cities. “And this is why this issue is so important that every time a staff member gets exposed, that we’re going to come and talk about this issue because eventually something will happen and we will force change.”
The dangers aren’t limited to FCI Thomson either. Just this year, there have been toxic drug exposures requiring employee hospitalizations at multiple federal facilities across the country. In 2024, a staff member at the high-security US Penitentiary Atwater in California died following a fentanyl exposure linked to mail handling.
OSHA recommended the Bureau of Prisons adopt additional controls at Thomson, including digitized mail systems that convert inmate mail into electronic images before delivery. Similar systems have been piloted successfully at some federal prisons including FCI Beckley in West Virginia and USP Canaan in Pennsylvania – limiting staff contact with physical mail and reduce exposure risk.
“The flow of narcotics into federal prisons through inmate mail poses a significant and dangerous threat to federal correctional officers and staff,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said. “I echo OSHA’s recommendation for the Bureau of Prisons to expand the use of digitized mail screening, which has successfully been piloted in select facilities and has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of drug exposures to both employees and inmates.”
AFGE Local 4070 will continue working with OSHA, the Bureau of Prisons, and facility leadership to support the implementation of additional safety measures intended to reduce exposure risks for staff and inmates, Zumkehr said.
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