Facebook Foils Jailbirds On Their Cell Phones

One of the main problems with contraband cell phones smuggled into prisons is the use of the internet via these wireless devices. Detainees then use the smuggled phones to access Twitter and Facebook. The meshDETECT secure cell phone solution offers an alternative to contraband cell phones and do not have internet access or other common features such as cameras. They are uniquely provisioned for a prison environment.

Call it the anti-social network! Facebook is stepping in to stop prisoners surfing the Web, updating their Facebook accounts and carrying on their criminal activities using contraband mobile phones .

Prison bosses in California have started reporting inmate pages to Facebook and the social network is to take down pages that have been updated since the owners went to jail. A typical jailbird page is shown in the gallery on the left.

A spokesman for the Corrections Department said, “Access to social media allows inmates to circumvent our monitoring process and continue to engage in criminal activity.”

It’s not just inmates posting on their own social media pages that are the problem , said the Los Angeles Times . Some prisoners have been harassing their victims from behind bars.

One child molester inside for least seven years sent up-to-date drawings of a victim to her house – sketched from photos of the now 17-year-old on her MySpace and Facebook pages.

In 2006, prisons officers found just 261 contraband cellphones in jails. In the first six months of this year, they found 7200.

Prison employees, unlike visitors, are not searched on the way into the jails and are bringing in the phones, for which prisoners will pay as much as as much as $1,000 each. It is against the rules to smuggle a phone to a prisoner, but it is not illegal. The employee is sacked but not prosecuted.

A new Bill will make smuggling a phone to an inmate a crime punishable by a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

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Brian

Managing Partner at meshIP, LLC

Brian Byrne is the founder and Managing Partner of Dallas based meshIP, a technology services firm offering cloud computing strategies and services. He is an accomplished executive with senior management experience in all facets of the technology, telecom, cloud computing, and SaaS industries. He has proven success in developing, financing and executing strategic plans as well as launching new ventures. His background includes a record of significant achievement in international business development and his credentials include a MBA in Marketing and Management Strategy from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS from the School of Computer Science at DePaul University, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

He is also the inventor of the patented meshDETECT, Secure Prison Cell Phone Solutions.

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