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CIU: soaked paper sold online used as currency inside prisons; families routed Cash App payments
Summary
Corrections Investigative Unit staff told the committee they are seeing papers pre-soaked with chemical agents sold online and circulated inside facilities; CIU described a Cash App debt scheme in which incarcerated people ask family and friends to transfer money to outside accounts to pay debts tied to contraband.
Aaron Reichert, director of the Corrections Investigative Unit, told the committee that investigators have documented a wide-ranging scheme that turns tiny sheets of chemically soaked paper into a form of currency inside facilities.
“We've developed at this point that it's is related to STGs…They're utilizing this as a way to continue their criminal enterprise and make money while they're incarcerated,” Reichert said. He described the product’s street value: “One full sheet of paper could be valued at $10,000. One, eight and a half by 11.” He added that the product is commonly “sold by a square between 50 and $80 depending on how well the department is intercepting this stuff.”
How it gets into facilities: Reichert said vendors sell pre-soaked paper online; people then put soaked cardstock or envelopes into the legal-mail stream, in some cases using courthouse or attorney-office envelopes or other legal-mail markings that staff do not open. Reichert summarized the pattern: “They then soak the paper, they put it in the envelope, they address it to the individual that it's going to…It's stamped legal confidential. DOC does not have the right to take a look at that. And then it goes straight into the hands of the individual that's receiving it.”
Debt and payment scheme: CIU described a parallel payment system using widely available mobile money tools. “They contact somebody on the outside. So the person that's buying will contact a family member and say, could you please cash this amount of money to this Cash app username,” Reichert said. CIU said some incarcerated people can accumulate large debts and ask relatives to send hundreds of dollars to outside accounts; Reichert gave one investigation example in which an individual’s family sent about $15,000 to multiple Cash App usernames over several months.
Why it matters: CIU witnesses told the committee that soaked-paper contraband can cause unpredictable medical reactions for people exposed to it, that the items are trafficked for substantial sums and that the debt and mobile-payment mechanics create ongoing criminal pressure on family members. Reichert said the unit is tracking the problem and working with other states, federal partners and DOC operations.
CIU recommendations: Reichert told the committee body-worn cameras and better searches could help investigations, and said tablets and searchable communications on tablets have already aided several probes. He recommended continued interagency information-sharing and operational responses to intercept shipments, manage legal mail screening and work with families to reduce exploitation.
Ending: Committee members asked DOC to continue sharing data and to coordinate with the Department of Human Resources and law enforcement on criminal or misconduct referrals. Reichert said the unit will keep the committee updated.
