T-Mobile recently submitted to the FCC a study comparing Managed Access Systems (“MAS”) and precision jamming systems (micro-jamming) as potential solutions to prevent contraband phone use in correctional facilities. This study was submitted to Docket 13-111, Promoting Technological Solutions to Combat Contraband Wireless Device Use in Correctional Facilities.

The study provides an overview of MAS and micro-jamming solutions examining both technical and cost considerations. The paper finds that the cost to deploy and operate the two solutions is roughly equivalent, with the cost for a MAS being less than a jammer solution in larger prisons and the jammer solution being slightly less than an MAS solution for smaller prisons.

However, the study also details a number of detrimental impacts of a jammer solution compared to an MAS solution, such as blocking legitimate use of wireless devices, including use for E911 and FirstNet, jamming other important uses, including GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and creating a significant potential for interference with use of wireless devices by the general public in surrounding areas.

Based on the findings of the study, any cost/benefit analysis would necessarily have to conclude that a jamming solution is not an appropriate approach to combating contraband devices in prisons given the availability of comparably priced, effective solutions that do not include the negative societal impacts associated with jammers.

It also highlights that, although both solutions prevent the use of contraband devices within correctional facilities, MAS allows officials to permit the operation of authorized devices within correctional facilities, whereas jamming solutions prevent the operation of all devices for all purposes, regardless of legitimacy. Furthermore, the report identifies additional operational benefits available for MAS, e.g, data collection, that are not available with a jamming deployment.

Regarding cost, the study finds that in a large facility, precision jamming is expected to be costlier than  a  MAS  due  to  higher  system  management  and  monitoring  costs,  as  well  as  higher  R.F. jamming head-end costs.  In a medium facility, the precision jamming system’s higher management and head-end costs are expected to be partially offset by the MAS core network costs.  In a small facility, the additional cost of the MAS core network may make it slightly more costly. The following from the report summarizes these findings:

Of particular public interest is the potential impact of micro-jamming on the ongoing deployment of FirstNet nationwide. First Responder communications may be carried on commercial cellular bands. Since a jammer does not discriminate between cellular users, first responders attempting to communicate on the affected cellular frequency bands will be blocked. This would be a problem for first responder communications within the correctional facility, as well as outside of the facility if the jammer degrades local commercial wireless networks that also carry First Responder communications.

The post Prison Micro-Jamming Study Highlights Risks appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

As this article demonstrates, the use of current prison telephone systems requires prisoner movement. And prisoner movement always entails the potential risk of violence, both to guards and other prisoners.

The meshDETECT secure prison cell phone solution eliminates this problem and increases correctional officer safety by allowing prisoners to make calls from their cells. Prisoner movement is eliminated, more calls can be made, thereby raising revenue, and conversations can be conducted safely and privately.

Officials say an inmate at the Union County Jail angry about the use of the telephone system assaulted a jail officer last week.

Jimmy Decarlos Henderson, 31, of Union has been charged by the Union County Sheriff’s Office with aggravated assault and battery, according to an incident report.

The report states that on Feb. 13, guards went to check on Henderson, who was upset that the facility’s phone system had not been turned on. The guards instructed Henderson twice to go back into his cell area and wait until the system was turned on, but Henderson refused, the report states.

Henderson positioned himself in a corner and “took a fighting stance,” the report states. A guard stepped toward Henderson, and Henderson swung and hit him in the body, head and face area several times as the guard tried to subdue him, according to the report.

The guard got Henderson on the floor and put his elbow on Henderson’s throat to get him to stop fighting, the report states. Henderson then went to his cell.

Source

The post Danger In The Use Of Prison Wall Phones appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

This article discusses the “amenities” available to the detainees in a women’s minimum security prison in Indiana. In discussions about amenities available to prisoners, there is always a contrast between those who advocate what they believe to be reasonable privileges for the purpose of facilitating rehabilitation and those who advocate hard time and bare minimum facilities. The warden of this particular facility states, “We definitely want to put a better person back on the streets than we received…it’s a place that preaches reform as much as punishment.”

And perhaps the middle way is the best approach as it seeks to reduce recidivism while acknowledging the reality of the offense that led to incarceration. We believe that communication with family and loved ones while serving one’s time is not an amenity but an important part of the effort to reform. A strong connection with one’s family supports the rehabilitation process. The key is to offer prison telecommunications services in a manner that enhances safety, maintains security and rewards good behavior. We believe the meshDETECT secure prison cell phone solution does exactly that.

As a steady rain fell recently, the conditions outside the Madison Correctional Facility prison (MCI) were best described as gloomy. But inside the minimum security facility in Madison, Indiana, they were a bit more pleasant.

“It’s a good facility if you have to be locked up, but definitely there is nothing fun about being locked up,” said Superintendent Jan Davis.

Davis is described by most of the offenders as tough but fair.

“We definitely want to put a better person back on the streets than we received,” said Davis. And that is what a minimum security facility like Madison can do with just under 500 inmates, it’s a place that preaches reform as much as punishment.

“Every offender here has an assignment, whether it be a work assignment, or a program assignment they have to be at,” said Davis.

One such program is a fully-equipped cosmetology school.

“Then they go to the State Board and take a test, and then we also have some in here who are also doing a nail care program.,” said Davis.

Those are just a few of the classes inmates are offered during their time.

“Most of them (inmates), the average stay is about a year, our violence level is very, very low,” said Davis.

Most offenders are there due to non-violent, lower-level felonies. They include Cindy Melin from Fowler, Indiana. She is serving a forgery sentence until 2014. “It’s not as bad being here as it could be like in a maximum facility,” said Melin. That’s exactly what 9 News found at the facility too.

Inmates do have TV, but “they do not have any special channels, it is just basic cable,” said Davis. Inmates also have a library, pay phones, a softball field, parenting classes, a fitness center and a child friendly visitation center.

“I believe you should still have some freedom and rights in here, and be allowed to do those kind of things,” said Melin.

What they don’t have includes Internet access, conjugal visits, radios and air conditioning. “The small things we took for granted on the outs, is the biggest things we don’t take for granted in here,” said Sasheena Bonner.

The Anderson, Indiana woman is serving a burglary sentence until 2016.

“There are times when you feel down and you miss your family and all, but you have to take it a day at a time,” said Bonner.

As for sleeping conditions, Madison is all dormitory-style housing. “Some rooms will have two to a room, some have six, some are a little larger,” said Davis.

The most surprising creature comfort? Creatures. Dogs and cats living with the offenders. They are part of a successful apprenticeship program at MCI that turns strays into adoptable pets.

“We are not all bad people,” said Melin.

Source

The post Lockdown Luxuries? appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

An interesting article about the uses of funds received from the sale of prison commissary items. One use is the installation of computer terminals in each maximum security cell to provide video visitation. This reduces prisoner movement and increases safety. The use of the meshDETECT secure cell phone solution also eliminates the need to move prisoners to provide access to telephones.

Every time an inmate buys a candy bar or a bag of chips he or she is doing something good for all inmates in the state’s prison system.

Whether it is snacks, envelopes, toothpaste or phone cards being purchased by inmates at the prison canteen, all proceeds from the sales go into an inmate fund. That adds up to about $2.5 million a year from the 20 state prisons, said Katherine Sanguinetti, Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman.

“That money funds volunteer programs, educational programs, a lot of things. It has to be spent for the offenders,” Sanguinetti explained.

The most highly advanced example of the canteen funds at work is in the new tower at Centennial Correctional Facility, which opened a year ago. The 316-cell tower features cells equipped with state-of-the-art computer terminals that allow the administrative-maximum security inmates who are locked down 23 hours a day to obtain educational programming, see and hear visitors and watch television programming.

About 20 cable stations are accessible to inmates, so it is not the hundreds of programs people on the streets can see.

“The computer kiosks are used for visits, by teachers and even by medical providers. It is saving staff time and they are able to meet prisoners’ needs more efficiently,” Sanguinetti said.

As a result, the inmates can have more visits because each one does not require the moving of an inmate escorted by two staff members.

“It is far more efficient,” Sanguinetti said.

Source

The post Canteen Funds Benefit Inmates appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

Perhaps Bexar County Jail should re-examine its policy on allowing guards to bring in food, a judge suggested this week as two ex-jailers were convicted in separate courtrooms for smuggling contraband.

State District Judge Sid Harle made the comment Monday as he sentenced former jailer William Douglas Hemphill, 33, to five years’ deferred adjudication for smuggling a cell phone to an inmate in a box of ramen noodles.

Two months earlier, Harle had sentenced ex-jailer Robert Falcon to six years in prison for trying to smuggle heroin to inmates in barbacoa tacos. And jurors Tuesday convicted former jailer Alfred Casas of aiding an escape attempt by smuggling hacksaw blades in tacos.

These are older incidents just now getting adjudicated, said Deputy Chief Roger Dovalina, who oversees the jail. The few bad apples have been fired and arrested, he said, and he doesn’t remember any new cases arising in the past couple of years.

“We are looking at different options, but it has been difficult” to bar jailers from bringing their own food because they don’t get lunch breaks like regular employees, Dovalina said.

Accepting bribes is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. But in exchange for an earlier no-contest plea, prosecutors Monday instead pursued a lesser charge against Hemphill of possessing a prohibited substance in a correctional facility. Hemphill, who now works for a box manufacturer in Louisiana, can’t work in law enforcement in Texas again.

Jailers searched inmate cells in July 2008 and found the phone in the cell of Nathan Knowles, 28, who was awaiting trial on drug and theft charges.

“Another inmate told me that if I get cool with Officer Hemphill, he would bring me a cell phone,” Knowles said in a written statement.

In a letter of resignation, Hemphill admitted bringing the phone but said it was only after Knowles threatened the jailer’s family and his girlfriend.

“I started to blow it off until he started naming my parents’ street and the details of my car,” he wrote.

If there was a threat, Hemphill never reported it, as jail policy requires, authorities said.

A smuggled phone could be used to threaten witnesses or for ongoing criminal conduct, said Adriana Biggs, chief of the district attorney’s white-collar crimes division.

Source

The post Judge Calls For A New Look At Jail Guard Rules appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

According to this news article, possession of contraband prison cell phones will be a felony in Alabama prisons and prison cell phone detection technology will be allowed if an Alabama bill passes. Rather than spend state funds on prison cell phone jammers, Alabama should consider a secure prison cell phone solution such as meshDETECT.

A Senate committee today approved a bill that would give the state Department of Corrections new powers to keep cell phones out of the hands of prison inmates.

The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee in the wake of an inmate uprising at the Holman Correctional Facility on April 5 that was sparked by a dispute over a cell phone, which is considered contraband.

Jeffery Williams, deputy commissioner of governmental relations for the prison system, said the bill would give the agency the authority to contract with a communications company to detect cell phone communications from prisons.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen R-Cottondale, would have elevated possession of a cell phone from a misdemeanor to a Class C felony.

After Chairman Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, expressed concerns over a heightened penalty, Allen agreed to amend the bill to make possession of a cell phone a Class A misdemeanor with a penalty of up to a year in prison and a $6,000 fine.

Williams said the incident at Holman occurred when a correctional officer attempted to take a cell phone away from an inmate.

The incident escalated into a disturbance during which inmates seized control of one wing of the maximum security prison for about four hours. It took a prison system tactical team using tear gas to quell the disturbance.

Williams said that, after the disturbance, the department was informed by Escambia County officials that the county’s 9-1-1 system had been receiving “a huge volume” of calls that were traced back to cell phones in four prisons in the area.

“This is an important piece of legislation that will give us an opportunity to address this issue that’s a huge problem for the Department of Corrections,” he said. “Cell phones are smuggled in our facilities and we believe there is technology out there that will detect these cell phones within the system and disrupt these cell phones.”

Williams said the department already has confiscated 5,000 cell phones.

Source

The post Alabama Senate Approves Bill to Keep Cell Phones From Prison Inmates appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.