Jail officer drops dead after touching mystery letter sent to prisoner

A federal inmate and two others were charged with conspiring to mail fentanyl and other drugs to a prison in California - a plot that ended up killing an innocent mailroom employee when he touched a letter laced with the narcotics.

US Penitentiary Atwater inmate Jamar Jones is said to have communicated with Stephanie Ferreira, of Evansville, Indiana, and Jermen Rudd III of Wentzville, Missouri, both of whom agreed to send him drugs that he could sell in prison. 

Corrections officer Marc Fischer opened the letter fraudulently disguised as 'legal mail' in front of Jones on the morning of August 9 and found 'five pieces of 'wet' or 'waxy' paper,' according to an FBI affidavit.

Before realizing how dangerous of a situation he was in, Fischer handed the letter off to a female coworker. Within minutes, they both fell ill. 

'I don't feel good, it's going up my arm, I need medical,' she recalled Fischer saying. 

She would survive, but Fischer died at 2:14pm after being rushed to the hospital.

Loved ones told ABC 30 that Fischer was close to retirement.

Pictured: US Penitentiary Atwater, where Marc Fischer touched the envelope that ultimately killed him

Fentanyl pills seized by U.S. Custom and Border Protection officers at the Port of Mariposa in Nogales, Arizona (stock image)

Subsequent testing of the letter that Rudd mailed revealed it was laced with amphetamines, fentanyl and 'spice,' otherwise known as synthetic marijuana.

An autopsy performed on Fischer on August 14 didn't reveal an 'obvious cause of death from physical examination alone,' which means investigators will have to wait for the toxicology results for more certainty.

Rudd and Jones, who is already serving a sentence for narcotics distribution, face a maximum of 30 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Ferreira faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Fischer's death marks the latest serious incident in the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees 122 federal prisons, including US Penitentiary Atwater.

In an attempt to tamp down on narcotics smuggling, the BOP began photocopying inmates' letters at some prisons instead of delivering the actual packages, ABC reported.

Legislation was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in 2023 that would have required the BOP director to develop strategies to intercept fentanyl and other drugs before they could make it to correctional facilities.

The bill stalled in the House of Representatives.