Summary

Requires the Bureau of Prisons to evaluate technologies and develop a nationwide plan to detect synthetic opioids and fentanyl analogues in inmate mail, establish digital/mail-processing timelines and protections for legal mail, identify needed equipment and IT, propose a FY2025–2027 budget, and implement the plan within three years (subject to appropriations). The Director must complete the technology evaluation within 180 days, submit a detailed strategy to congressional judiciary committees, and provide annual progress reports on implementation and interdiction results.

• Mandates a BOP evaluation of mail-interdiction technologies within 180 days and a full strategy to Congress within 90 days after evaluation.
• Requires the strategy to aim for 100% mail-scanning capacity across federal prisons and to identify needed equipment, IT, operations, training, and budget.
• Sets processing timelines: digital copy to inmate within 24 hours and return of physical mail within 30 days if no contraband is found.
• Directs protection and verification procedures for legal mail to preserve attorney–client privilege.
• Calls for a FY2025–2027 equipment and technology budget proposal; implementation depends on later appropriations and must be completed within 3 years of plan submission.
• Requires annual progress reports starting one year after strategy submission, including quantities of detected synthetic drugs and opioids.
• Defines "synthetic drug" to explicitly include fentanyl analogues for the purposes of detection and interdiction.
• Does not itself appropriate funds but creates a planning and procurement pathway for mail-scanning and digital mail-processing capabilities.