A new law has been passed to ban cell phones in prison cells in Rhode Island. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael J. McCaffrey and Rep. Raymond H. Johnston Jr. sponsored the bill that makes it illegal for prisoners to possess “any portable electronic communication device.” Under the new law, inmates caught using a cell phone can be punished by a $5,000 fine, a maximum penalty of five more years added on to their prison sentence, […]
Prison Cell Phones
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This article provides an update on contraband prison cell phone legislation in California. According to the article smuggled cell phone usage in state prisons has recently exploded. Nearly 11,000 cell phones were found in state prisons in 2010, compared to 261 in 2006. The phones can fetch up to $1,000 each in prison. A bill aimed at curbing widespread cell phone proliferation in state prisons is on its way to the state Assembly after clearing […]
The following editorial is a response to one written earlier regarding contraband prison cell phone signal jamming. In it the author, an official of the Maryland DOC states, “Corrections systems must invest, innovate, develop partnerships and educate themselves in order to gain the necessary capabilities to fight this problem.” This is very true, but all the approaches he mentions are related to smuggled cell phone interdiction and detection. None of the solutions contemplate proactively reducing […]
The Michigan DOC is changing prison pay phone vendors and increasing the price of a prison phone call. Some of the increased revenue generated by the new phone rates will be used to install cell phone jammers to thwart smuggled contraband cell phones. The corrections department had contracted with Kansas-based EMBARQ. That contract expired in 2009 but the company agreed to continue service until the department found a new vendor, Cordell said. EMBARQ offered the […]
This is an older article, but it is interesting for the perspective it gives on the problem of contraband cell phones smuggled into the prisons of Europe. As in the U.S., jamming cell phone signals is the primary approach being considered to eliminate smuggled prison cell phones. Drugs and weapons aren’t the only contraband in prisons these days. The latest underground currency among inmates is an item most of us consider harmless: the cell phone. […]
Here is a video report on the problems with contraband prison cell phones smuggled into Texas jails:
A secure prison cell phone service would reduce the contraband value of the smuggled cell phones in the Texas prison where this took place. Janet Watts, 47, Houston, Texas, was sentenced to a term of nineteen years in the state penitentiary in connection with a 2007 scheme where she was involved in sending cash by wire to a prison guard convicted of bringing cell phones into the unit where Watt’s son was in custody. Over […]
Contraband prison cell phones in the Bahamas. It is a problem there, as it is globally. Prison officials confiscated 240 cell phones from inmates at Her Majesty’s Prisons between January to May despite best efforts to block the use of the contraband material. The Ministry of National Security plans to soon install a system to stop mobile phone signals without disrupting cellular service to surrounding neighbourhoods. “The unauthorised use of cell phones within prisons continues […]
The smuggling and illegal use of contraband cell phones in prisons in the United States has corrections administrators and officers at a disadvantage as wireless detection technologies have not kept pace with the surge in illegal cell phones in prisons. It is estimated that over 10,000 illegal cell phones were seized during 2010 in California state prisons alone. Signal jamming technologies are proving to be too expensive, and the time and cost demands on prison […]
An update on the contraband prison cell phone legislation currently being considered in California. According to the article, S.B. 26 is Senator Padilla’s fourth attempt to criminalize smuggling and possession of cellphones in prison. A quote from the article, “This cell phone issue is a huge problem in our prison system, and (S.B. 26) is a good start to begin to address it” is no doubt accurate, but the law should be augmented by a […]