Commissioners take steps to curtail contraband at jail
Posted on: December 08, 2024
A new layer of safety has been added at the Indiana County Jail to assure that no contraband or harmful materials get into the lockup from what might seem to be an otherwise safe channel: outside communications.
The county board of commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract between the county and Textbehind Inc., an inmate mail screening company that would provide its protective security service at no cost to the county.
No longer would jail workers take on the risk of being exposed to hazards when they screen the mail delivered for inmates.
Commissioner Chairman Michael Baker said the service has been endorsed by other areas that have tried it.
“We had Chris Reilly, a commissioner from York County, and they have implemented this at the York County Jail,” Baker said. “He said that since they started it, they have had zero contraband coming in. That’s what the goal is here.”
“I was skeptical at first because it seemed too good to be true, but it’s been properly vetted so I’m convinced,” Commissioner Sherene Hess said.
“You’ve probably seen in the news over the last year or so — a piece of mail comes into a prison facility and all of a sudden there’s white power and people are being injured,” Baker said. “This eliminates that completely. When someone sends mail to an inmate at our jail from here on out, they’re not going to get the original. Its going to go to a clearinghouse at Textbehind, they’re going to make facsimile copies and that’s what our inmates will be receiving.
“We want to continue to serve families who want to communicate with their inmate family members and friends but also protect our corrections folks. That’s very, very important to us.”
Textbehind operates by assessing fees to the families of inmates for processing inmates’ letters and email messages, a jail spokeswoman said.