By Charlene Bielema
Daily Gazette, Sterling, Ill.
THOMSON, Ill. — Fifteen corrections officers at the Thomson federal prison were sent to local hospitals Wednesday, April 16, after they were exposed in the prison mail room to what is believed to be a dangerous drug, the union president said.
Jon Zumkehr, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 4070, said the officers were treated with Narcan and rushed to the hospital. One of the officers had to receive two doses of Narcan before being sent to the hospital, Zumkehr said during a news conference outside the prison.
By late Wednesday afternoon, all of the officers had been released from the hospital and were recovering at home, Zumkehr said.
FCI Thomson is in Carroll County in northwestern Illinois . The prison is a low-security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp and houses 2,041 male inmates, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons . All visiting at the prison is suspended until further notice, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ website.
The exposure marks the eighth incident of staff hospitalization from drug exposure at the Thomson facility in the past 15 months, Zumkehr said.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D- D-Rockford, visited the prison Wednesday afternoon to address safety concerns and said there is the need for stronger preventive measures to keep harmful substances out of federal facilities. He said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that chemical analyses will be done to determine if the substance is fentanyl.
Five ways to implement effective mail screening as part of a comprehensive interdiction strategy:
“My prayers are with the Thomson Prison correctional officers who were exposed to possibly dangerous drugs or substances, and I am currently in touch with officials at the prison to assess the situation,” Sorensen said.
He described the exposure as a hazardous material situation and said he plans to meet with the prison’s warden.
Zumkehr said union leaders are calling the escalation of potential drug exposure incidents a nationwide safety emergency and that prison overdose rates have increased in recent years as drug traffickers increasingly target federal facilities through mail systems. The Thomson incident also follows last week’s drug exposure of 10 staff members at Federal Correctional Complex in Victorville, California.
As a result, AFGE Local 4070 is calling for an immediate halt to all incoming prison mail until proper trafficking prevention measures can be implemented, he said.
“The mail system remains the primary route for drugs entering our facilities,” Zumkehr said. “Without proper screening measures, we’re gambling with our officers’ lives.”
Zumkehr said a House bill, H.R. 1046, the Marc Fischer Memorial Interdiction of Fentanyl in Postal Mail at Federal Prisons Act, would establish mandatory comprehensive protocols for screening legal mail.
Fischer, a veteran mailroom supervisor at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater and former Coast Guard service member, died in August 2024 after handling contaminated mail shortly before his planned retirement.
Zumkehr said AFGE Local 4070 is demanding immediate action from Congress to pass H.R. 1046 and to implement comprehensive screening procedures across all federal correctional facilities.
Sorensen agrees.
“Dangerous chemicals getting into prison mail is an urgent problem that I am working to address, which is why I’ve joined bipartisan legislation to increase protections for prison staff against fentanyl exposure,” he said. “Correctional officers across the country work in unique and challenging environments and I am committed to ensuring they have the protections and support they need.”
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