THOMSON, Illinois – A federal government agency has issued citations following drug exposure incidents at the Thomson Federal Prison. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued those citations as well as 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 that required medical evaluation for Thomson staff and routine Narcan administration. These incidents included exposures to substances such as fentanyl, amphetamines, and synthetic cannabinoids concealed in inmate mail. In 2024, a staff member died following a drug exposure event linked to mail handling.
In the past year, multiple incidents required hospitalization, including an April event in which several employees received emergency medical treatment.
OSHA recommended the Federal Bureau of Prisons adopt additional controls, including digitized mail systems that convert inmate mail into electronic images before delivery. The agency and union noted that similar systems have piloted at FCI Beckley in West Virginia and USP Canaan in Pennsylvania, which limit staff contact with physical mail and reduce exposure risk.
Leaders with the local union representing many workers at the Thomson prison said they agree with the OSHA recommendations.
“Dangerous threat’
“The flow of narcotics into federal prisons through inmate mail poses a significant and dangerous threat to federal correctional officers and staff. 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,” Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, in a recent news release.
AFGE Local 4070 has previously supported the adoption of advanced mail screening tools, including digitization, to reduce health and safety risks for correctional staff and inmates, said Jon Zumkehr, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 4070. “We are grateful OSHA has finally put the Bureau on notice. We lost a dedicated staff member to drug-tainted mail in 2024, and little has changed. Staff keep getting exposed while drugs traffic through the mail. Our employees are sitting ducks in the mailroom,” he added.
AFGE Local 4070 officials said they 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.
The Thomson prison is a low-security federal correctional institution with 2,109 inmates, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
AFGE represents over 820,000 workers in nearly every agency of the federal and D.C. governments, spread across over 900 local unions.
