Overview
- In 2025, finds of new psychoactive substances in Saxon prisons more than doubled to 237, with children’s drawings and other letters used as delivery vehicles.
- Many facilities now issue only copies of inmate mail to block drug-soaked paper from entering cells, with originals withheld during custody.
- Two of four specialized drug scanners are already operating in Leipzig and Regis-Breitingen, with staff training pending for Dresden and Bautzen.
- A draft amendment to the penal system law has been sent to the Landtag for consultation to provide legal backing for mail-copying and to set inmate pay at 15% of the average wage with 60% pledgeable.
- Authorities also report rising drone drops over prisons—two cases in 2024 and twelve in 2025—with a detection system planned for Dresden and possible further rollouts despite significant costs.