Michigan Department of Corrections Combats Contraband in Mail
By Fay Harvey
LANSING, Mich. — To help address the flow of dangerous contraband into correctional facilities, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) is rolling out a new technology to confidentially manage and verify privileged mail being sent to inmates.
The system, TextBehind DOCS, will be used by attorneys, courts, legal service organizations, consulates, and other entities that have the right to send confidential, privileged and special-handling mail to clients within prison, according to a statement by the MDOC. These efforts will protect staff and the communication rights of incarcerated people while also increasing safety.
In an earlier effort to mitigate contraband, the MDOC implemented a routine of photocopying contents of inmates’ standard mail. The effort resulted in a significant decline in the introduction of drugs via adulterated paper, stickers and other mailable items, according to the MDOC statement. However, since legal mail cannot be photocopied and inmates must be given original copies, there has been a new trend of falsifying privileged mail to send illegal materials.
In the past, MDOC staff would contact legal teams to verify all pieces of confidential mail sent to inmates. With Textbehind DOCS, staff will be able to confirm the origin of privileged mail in a quicker, more efficient, on-the-spot process. Attorneys attach a specialized QR code to each piece of mail before sending it to clients. The unique QR codes are scanned by facility officials upon receipt to verify sender information and distributed to inmates once approved.
The new system will eliminate the need for facility staff members to confirm each privileged mail item with the sender, while also mitigating potential exposure to life-threatening contraband such as fentanyl that may be smuggled through fake legal mail. Mail marked for special handling that does not utilize TextBehind after full implementation of this system will be returned prior to opening, according to the MDOC.
End-to-end data encryption features will further confirm that documents are remain private and confidential, ensuring no one but sender and receiver can access the data within the documents. Senders can also request video evidence of delivery to show that mail was processed in the presence of the incarcerated individual and handled in compliance with attorney-client privilege standards.
Attorneys were granted the ability to register for an account by visiting www.textbehind.com/docs. Legal participants must provide state-issued photo identification and a copy of their State Bar of Michigan attorney card, according to the State of Michigan website. As of Jan. 13, 2025, any mail sent to MDOC without a QR code issued by TextBehind will be rejected.