BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Sheriff Fred Akshar says he’s closed a legal loophole that allowed Broome County Jail inmates to smuggle drugs into the facility.

The Sheriff’s Office has received a regulatory variance from the New York State Commission of Corrections that will now allow jail staff to open mail labeled as legal correspondence in the presence of the inmate. The staff will then make photocopies of the documents but keep the originals.

According to Akshar, inmates were receiving paper that had been soaked in drugs such as methamphetamine, heroin and K-2 and then mailed with the false claim that they were from an attorney.