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NH jail cracks down on drugs in inmates’ mail

Tougher rules on mail have been in effect since last summer

By Brian Early
Foster’s Daily Democrat

DOVER — Strafford County House of Corrections has cracked down on inmate mail to keep drugs and other contraband out of the jail.

Tougher rules on mail have been in effect since last summer. You can’t mail inmates anything that isn’t written on plain paper. Birthday cards are not allowed and don’t spill coffee or soda on the letter. Suspicious staining may mean it won’t be delivered.

The mail is just one element of ramped-up efforts to keep drugs and other contraband out of the jail. Anytime visitors or inmates enter the Strafford County House of Corrections, they pass through a scanner that is so thorough, pat downs and searches are no longer needed.

The scanner, introduced there in April, is part of the cat-and-mouse game played by the jailers and jailees. Keeping illegal items out of the jail is an ongoing issue, whether at the Strafford County jail or state prison.

“We’d rather be the cat,” said Strafford County Administrator Ray Bower, who oversees the jail with Jail Superintendent Bruce Pelkie.

One example of how the county is “the cat” when it comes to jail contraband, was a case listed in indictments earlier this month. A Strafford County grand jury indicted Craig and Sherry Wiggins in connection with felony conspiracy to commit delivery of illicit drugs. The case dates back to 2013. According to the indictment, Sherry was incarcerated at Strafford County Jail when she instructed Craig how to hide and send “illegal drugs” through the mail.

However, the mail was intercepted by the jail’s internal system, said Strafford County Sheriff David Dubois. Because the case is active, Dubois would not provide any additional information about what and how the alleged illegal drugs were sent.

Illicit substances sent by mail is so much of an ongoing challenge that N.H. Department of Corrections issued a new mail policy at the beginning of May. The prison will no longer deliver greeting cards, postcards and “unusually thick stationery” to prisoners because drugs, especially suboxone strips, can be hidden on a piece of mail. Suboxone is a medication that can be used for opiate addiction.

“It’s amazing the ideas they come up with to support a habit,” said N.H. Department of Correction Public Information Officer Jeffrey Lyons. “They put their creativity to that sort of thing, unfortunately,” he said.

This is the second mail change in the past year at the state prison. Last summer, the prison stopped delivering inmates’ mail in envelopes because suboxone strips can be hidden underneath postage stamps.

While it’s a felony to send illicit items to an inmate, tracking down the sender can be difficult, as senders will often use fake return addresses.

In Strafford County, Bower and Pelkie said they have worked to remain ahead of the curve. Strafford County stopped delivering envelopes to inmates in 2013. Last August, the county jail stopped delivering greeting cards. Only plain paper is allowed.

The county jail officers inspect all incoming mail before it is delivered to inmates. When the officers deliver mail to an inmate, they show the inmate the envelope before giving the contents to him or her. The officers will discard the envelope unless it is a legal document, in which case they make a copy and give it to the inmate.

In fact, Bower said, the county is looking at technologies that might stop mail altogether. The jail has a system for family and friends to send inmates email, but the county does not have a system yet for inmates to send their own email.

The county jail is also training a K9 to sniff out illegal substances. Last February, the jail received permission from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the county to keep a small amount of narcotics at the jail for training purposes, Bower said.

But with inmates having nothing but time on their hands, it is likely the cat-and-mouse game will continue, jail officials said.

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