This news article discusses the contraband prison cell phone problem in the Florida DOC. Secure prison cell phone service is a solution to this issue. A cell phone can be a lifesaver, but in the hands of a dangerous criminal, it can be used to threaten someone’s life. That’s why cell phones in prison are considered dangerous weapons, but plenty of inmates end up with a cell in their cellblock. Phones are smuggled into prisons […]
Prison Cell Phones
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This news item highlights the corrosive effects the demand for contraband prison cell phones has on prison guards and other prison employees. Because the demand for illegal cell phones is so high, guards are paid to smuggle the phones into the jails. The demand for contraband prison cell phones would be significantly lessened by the introduction of secure prison cell phones such as those offered by meshDETECT. A former state correction officer from Avenel pleaded […]
Buddy, a playful 1-year-old black lab, strikes fear into the hearts of Maryland’s most dangerous criminals. Dogs like Buddy are in demand worldwide with Maryland taking the lead in teaching law enforcement agencies how canines can detect the new prison contraband: Cell phones. Maryland’s innovative training of cell phone-detection dogs drew K-9 units from law enforcement agencies and correctional institutions from Washington, D.C., Kansas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, South Dakota and New Jersey for a recent three-day […]
The dark gray device used to detect cell phones looks like an oversized walkie-talkie. When Scott Schober, president of a Metuchen technology company, flipped it on in an officer cafeteria at a New Jersey jail several months ago, a warning immediately flashed. “I turned around and walked out and said, ‘You’ve got phones in there,”‘ he said, describing the demonstration he gave for officials. “They basically said, ‘We’re not surprised.”‘ Cell phones are illegal in […]
The “legitimate” use of prison cell phones by prisoners to stay in contact with friends and family is highlighted in this article. Amazingly over 10,000 contraband prison cell phones were confiscated in California prisons in 2010. That is lost revenue the state could have earned by deploying the meshDETECT Secure Prison Cell Phone Solution. Bidders on the upcoming California prisons contract for inmates’ pay phone service will be asked to include equipment to block cellphone […]
This article discusses the problem of illegal prison cell phones in the State of Texas. As with most states, the initial approach to deal with the problem is to try jamming contraband prison cell phones. The cost of this approach has yet to be quantified however. State corrections officials said Friday that a test of cell phone detection technology at a Southeast Texas prison where an inmate used a contraband phone when he escaped last […]
This article on prison cell phones discusses how, despite all the press on the nefarious uses of smuggled prison cell phones, the real driver of prison cell phone smuggling is the desire of inmates to stay in touch with family and friends. A former long-serving federal inmate living in South Florida says the real reason for the proliferation of cell phones in prisons has more to do with privately owned institutions gouging inmates and their […]
Smuggled prison cell phone problems and solutions discussed in this video:
This is an excerpt from the FBI report “Cell Phones as Prison Contraband,” from the July 2010 FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. It paints a compelling picture of the problems of contraband cell phones in prisons. The first reaction to a seemingly uncontrollable situation is often an extreme or complicated approach. In the case of contraband prison cell phones, it appears easiest to simply jam and block signals. The success of this approach is limited at […]