H.R. 1046: Marc Fischer Memorial Act

H.R. 1046 would require the Bureau of Prisons to build a nationwide plan to intercept fentanyl and other synthetic drugs in incoming mail. The bill's findings cite 122 federal institutions, nearly 38,000 employees, more than 150,000 inmates, and a 600 percent rise in prison drug overdoses in recent years.

The practical change is a scan-first mail system across the federal prison network. Under the bill, inmates would get a digital copy of incoming mail within 24 hours after a prison or contracted offsite site receives it, and the original physical mail would follow within 30 days if it does not contain synthetic drugs or opioids.

The Bureau of Prisons would first have 180 days to study equipment, technology, and outside scanning services, then 90 more days to send Congress a formal strategy. That strategy must cover legal-mail safeguards, delivery tracking, staffing and training needs, and a path to 100 percent scanning for mail at all federal correctional facilities.

The bill does not appropriate money directly. Instead, it requires a budget proposal for fiscal years 2025 through 2027 and gives the agency up to 3 years after submitting its strategy to put the system in place, if Congress funds it.

The bill's findings also point to earlier pilot work at FCI Beckley in West Virginia and USP Canaan in Pennsylvania from March 2020 through June 2021. Congress would then get annual reports on how efficiently the system works and how much synthetic drugs and opioids the agency detects.