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The insufficient postage scam

This clever, contraband movement trick was discovered by staff on accident

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To accomplish this smuggling scam, inmates need a hefty stack of legal documents.

I once heard this simple, yet clever, contraband movement trick. It was discovered by staff quite by accident. It involves a surprised warden, an equally surprised lawyer, and a prisoner who did not follow smuggling instructions carefully.

This incident took place a few years ago, when general population prisoners could acquire and possess tobacco, but prisoners in segregation units were not permitted to obtain tobacco. This was also prior to the widespread use of metered envelopes.

For the sake of clarity, I’ll refer to the segregated prisoner as S. His smuggling assistant in general population will be referred to as GP.

S sent word to GP to do the following:

1. Make a hollow in a legal brief of about 200 pages. The hollowed area was to be about as large as a pack of cigarettes.

2. Heat seal tobacco, rolling paper, and matches within plastic wrap.

3. Place the sealed plastic package into the cavity in the brief.

4. Ensure that the contraband is camouflaged by placing many legal looking documents on top of the brief.

5. Staple the brief in the upper left hand corner.

6. Place the loaded brief in a legal envelope. Write the words “legal mail” on the bottom of the envelope.

7. Address the envelope to a lawyer.

8. In the return address area write S’s address.

9. Affix insufficient postage.

The idea was that the large envelope would never leave the institution. The mailroom staff would reject the legal mail as having insufficient postage. Although the package was prepared outside the segregation unit by prisoner GP, the return address -- the address of prisoner S -- would be in segregation. S reasoned that staff would inadvertently deliver the “legal” (and its contraband cargo) to him directly.

One forgotten detail derailed the plan. Perhaps eager to please S, GP placed sufficient postage on the envelope, failing S’s instruction to place insufficient postage on the envelope. The faux brief was mailed to a randomly selected lawyer. Upon discovering the tobacco, the astonished lawyer called the warden at the facility. From there, the warden set an investigation in motion.

There are two positive outcomes in this story. First, GP, who staff identified by his handwriting, was placed in segregation for smuggling. Second, this was a new trick for many staff, and this provided a valuable learning experience and highlighted the need for staff awareness of their facility’ mail policy.

Staff do battle every day to keep their facility safe from contraband traders. Every contraband control trick we learn is valuable, even those we stumble upon a due to a poorly executed plan.


Joe Bouchard worked in a maximum correctional facility for 25 years and is now retired. He continues to write and present on many corrections topics. He is the former editor of The Correctional Trainer. Bouchard has been an instructor of corrections and criminal justice since 1999. He currently teaches at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College. Bouchard also has online writing clips at www.corrections.com/joe_bouchard. He is also the author of three corrections books for LRP publications and 10 books for IACTP’s series of training exercises books. Order now.

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