Officials: Defense Attorneys Smuggled Drug-Laced Papers into Cook County Jail

Officials have reportedly implemented updated rules to keep people from trying to smuggle drug-laced papers into Illinois’s Cook County Jail.

The news comes after two private defense attorneys were accused of bringing contaminated papers into the building when meeting with their clients, CWB Chicago reported Friday.

For a long time, authorities have kept a close eye on mail coming into the jail facility. However, defense attorneys wanting to bring paperwork with them are now required to make an appointment so officials may inspect their documents beforehand.

The investigation into the private defense lawyers’ alleged actions is ongoing, the outlet continued:

“The new rules have been discussed with relevant criminal justice offices, including the Office of the Public Defender, to avoid limiting their ability to represent their clients while addressing the dangers presented by saturated paper,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday. Attorneys and clients can still review documents electronically on computers.

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Tuesday’s announcement came three days after a 25-year-old detainee died inside Division XI, a medium-security unit. Yesterday, a 35-year-old female inmate died in another wing of the jail, according to the medical examiner’s office. They are the eighth and ninth inmate deaths at the jail this year, numbers that rival recent full-year totals.

Illegal drugs may be what is causing a rise in the death rate, according to some jail workers, the outlet said.

In April of last year, a pair of Illinois lawmakers issued a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) voicing concern for correctional officers who handled mail for inmates, KHQA reported.

Several employees reportedly became ill over the course of one month after they were exposed to illegal drugs mailed to the United States Penitentiary Thomson.

“One instance led to a correctional officer being hospitalized after the employee processed mail and unknowingly came in contact with a letter soaked in suspected methamphetamine,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said the jail has experienced a rise in the discovery of such contraband while noting that jails and prisons all over America have endured an increase in opioid overdoses.

Opioids are described as illegal drugs including heroin, fentanyl, and pain relievers people can get via prescription, according to the National Institutes of Health.

A few months ago, a source told CWB Chicago there was a lot of money involved in the saturated paper scheme.

“The paper that gets through is broken down into strips that are sold for $10 to $50, and those strips are smoked and ingested. There are documented incidents in which the ingestion has induced vomiting and seizures,” the person explained.

The individual also claimed some inmates get payments for the paper through CashApp or inmate trust funds.

According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office website, the total custodial population is 7,410 as of Friday.