A very interesting interview with the Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner, Brian Owens on the problem of contraband cell phones in prisons. Provocative quotes from the interview: “Cell phones in prison are simply a matter of power, money and gangs.” “Illegal cell-phone use in Georgia prisons has developed to “epidemic” proportions and is now the system’s greatest safety threat.” Interestingly, the interview did not include any discussion of deploying demand-side solutions such as a secure […]
Smuggled cell phone
11 posts
Contraband cell phones are being blamed for this incident in a Georgia prison. According to the prison commissioner, “Every day we fight the battle of keeping cell phones and other contraband out of our facilities. While some believe supplying an inmate with a cell phone is useful to contact family and friends, in most cases, the opposite is proven. Inmates are using cell phones to commit additional crimes and carry out gang activity. This incident […]
An interesting article about the growth of gangs in prison in Idaho and the increase in smuggled contraband cell phones as a result. Part of the strategy, as in other states such as California, is a legistative initiative to increase the penalty for smuggling cell phones. The article quotes an official, “We want to make it a felony to introduce cellphones within a prison. If they can make calls without going through the monitored phone […]
Traditionally, tobacco and stamps have been the preferred currency in prisons. But now it appears that in some prisons cellular airtime on contraband smuggled phones may be the new prison currency. According to this article, prisoners in a South African jail are using smuggled cell phones to run a scam to get wireless airtime. A prison official states, “We have found the phones and sim cards in the strangest of places. Some of them hide […]
His replacement will have big shoes to fill… TWO Leytonstone men have been convicted of plotting to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into a prison. Pentonville inmate Desmond Brown, 26, formerly of Montague Road, and his friend on the outside, Calvin Chance, 26, of Birch Grove, conspired with a corrupt solicitor to avoid detection. They were also helped by Brown’s 24-year-old girlfriend Danielle Porter, of Barking, and another prisoner, David Sterling. It is thought the […]
Might prison-friendly cell phones be a wiser response to contraband phones smuggled behind bars? So writes Douglas A. Berman the Robert J. Watkins/Procter & Gamble Professor of Law at Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University on his blog Sentencing Law And Policy. Professor Berman, who attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and who’s principal teaching and research focus is in the area of criminal law and criminal sentencing, states in his […]
According to this article, the going rate for a smuggled contraband cell phone in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan is $2500. Update (7/03/12): An ex-jail official was sentenced yesterday to four months on the other side of the bars for helping an inmate smuggle cellphones and drugs into the federal lockup in downtown Manhattan. Nydia Ciancioso, a former case manager at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, sobbed in court as she apologized for taking […]
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would be toughening the conditions of imprisonment for terrorists but some jailors, it seems, did not “get the memo.” According to the Yisrael Hayom newspaper, two jailors have been caught smuggling cell phones to imprisoned terrorists. A third reported being offered a bribe for a similar action. One jailor was arrested recently and questioned by the Unit for Investigating Jailors on suspicion he smuggled cell phones to Hadarim […]
The following video is a short news report on the problem of smuggled prison cell phones in New Jersey. The report finds that shows that in the last 4 years, 620 contraband cell phones had been confiscated at one prison in New Jersey called Northern State. That’s more than double the number (295) found in New Jersey’s 12 other prisons combined. A former Northern State inmate says smuggled cell phones are easy to get on […]
