An article discussing the steps the Mississippi DOC is taking to address the supply of contraband cell phones in its prisons. According the Department of Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps, “Cell phones are the biggest contraband items that we have. It’s a national problem in corrections.”

The article also discuss the managed access wireless signal jammer installed at the Parchman facility. The system has blocked about 1.8 million illegal cell phone calls and text messages. The system recently was upgraded to manage 3G technology, and a full-time managed access technician has been hired to maintain and monitor it.

The sheer volume of phone calls intercepted speaks to the fact that the vast majority of usage is most likely inmates communicating with family and loved ones. While smuggled cell phones are used for criminal activity, it is clear that a significant percentage, if not most, of the 1.8 million calls intercepted are not made with criminal intent. We believe there is a significant revenue, safety and behavior management opportunity in offering a secure prison cell phone solution to address this unmet desire for enhanced communications with friends and family.

Download our whitepaper to learn how the meshDETECT solution works.

State prisoners caught with cell phones or any cell phone component in Mississippi will soon face harsher punishment.

Loss of six months’ trusty time already is among the penalties.

But starting next month, “Zero Privilege Units” will begin at each of the state’s three prisons.

Inmates caught with cell phones will lose all privileges. Also, they won’t be allowed to purchase items from the commissary, the prison store, and they won’t be allowed to use the regular prison phone.

“We realize we have a problem and we are doing something about it,” Department of Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps said. “This will send a strong message.”

MDOC’s confiscation of at least 3,400 cell phones from inmates and Facebook pages created using smartphones from behind prison walls are behind the increased discipline, despite best efforts to keep cell phones out.

Cell phones are “the biggest contraband items that we have,” said Epps, who has been cited nationally for his efforts to prevent illicit use of cell phones in the country’s correctional facilities. ” It’s a national problem in corrections.”

Over the last two years, at least two murderers were updating their Facebook pages from behind prison walls in Mississippi using smartphone technology on cellphones smuggled into them.

Last year, MDOC had 70 Facebook pages deactivated.

In October, MDOC officials contacted Facebook’s corporate office and asked that murderer Jonathan Davis’ account be deactivated.

Until that point, Davis, 27, had been on the page and updating it since he arrived at the State Penitentiary at Parchman in 2004. Davis was convicted of 2002 capital murder in Lauderdale County.

In November 2010, MDOC officials also had another convicted killer’s Facebook page deactivated.

William Joseph Hogan, 30, had been corresponding on his Facebook page since he was sent to prison in 2009. Hogan was convicted of the 2008 murder of his wife in DeSoto County. Family members of the victim alerted prison officials to Hogan’s Facebook page.

Around the country, there have been reports of inmates using Facebook to contact victims, make sexual advances, or in some cases, to plan crimes.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes has said the social networking site will work with law enforcement and other officials to shut down inmate Facebook pages.

Janice Howard, whose son was killed in 2007, said she applauds Epps’ efforts to get cellphones out of the hands of inmates.

“No, they shouldn’t have that right. They gave up the right by the crimes they committed,” Howard said.

Shawn States, 25, the man who killed Justin Howard and his friend, Antoine Reece, was convicted in 2010 of two counts of capital murder and is serving two life sentences without parole.

In August 2010, MDOC launched the first cell phone detection/management system in the nation at Parchman. The managed access system intercepts all incoming and outgoing cell phone signals and allows prison authorities to manage calls that are not allowed and those that are allowed by pre-entering the allowed cell phone numbers in the system.

Since its installation, the system has blocked about 1.8 million illegal cell phone calls and text message, Epps said. The system recently was upgraded to manage 3G technology, and a full-time managed access technician has been hired to maintain and monitor it.

MDOC is actively working with the vendor to install a manage access system at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl and South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville.

Epps said MDOC has undertaken other efforts to eradicate illegal cell phones, including:

•Weekly searches for WiFi Internet signals at all prisons.

•A body cavity detection system.

•K-9 cell phone detection dogs.

•Hand wand metal detectors.

•Walk-through metal detection systems.

•Increased searches of inmates and staff.

Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, has proposed legislation to increase the penalty for providing cell phones to inmates.

Senate Bill 2020, which has been referred to the Corrections Committee, would increase the maximum penalty from 15 years to 20 years.

Source

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Another news item about the use of dogs to find contraband cell phones in prison, this time in Ohio. According to the article, “Policy experts say efforts to reduce the effects of mobile devices in jail are less effective than having good contraband policies in place to reduce them.” We couldn’t agree more. The best way to reduce the contraband value of cell phones in prison is to co-opt the problem by offering a secure prison cell phone solution.

Man’s best friend is being trained to sniff out cell phones in correctional facilities, since mobile communication devices are becoming an increasingly prevalent source of contraband in jails and prisons.

As widespread use of mobile devices in regular society spills over to the incarcerated population, correctional officers are devoting much of their time battling over removing the devices, and the associated issues they bring into the prison environment.

To address the problem, Ohio’s Butler County got a cell phone-sniffing, 18-month-old chocolate Labrador named Tank, an invaluable resource in keeping the visitation rooms and jail free of contraband.

Tank is able to smell the lithium battery in cell phones when directed to do so by his correctional officer and owner, Chris Morris.

“This is just play to him,” Morris said after Tank found a cell phone by scent and then indicated his discovery by sitting and staring at the suspicious spot until Morris found the banned item.

Tank stays in his kennel in the jail, leaving to complete a specific check if anything is suspected or for his routine rounds of cells and other general areas throughout the day.

The dog came to the county from West Virginia’s Ultimate Working Dogs center, which trains law enforcement dogs, and lives with Morris and his family.

Ultimate Working Dogs’ Tracy Landis reports the demand for cell phone detection dogs has been increasing with the popularity of the devices.

“They are used in jails and prisons because cell phones are contraband there just as much as narcotics,” Landis said.

In addition to the dog’s cell phone sniffing capability, county officials said just the dog’s very presence serves as a deterrent. If those incarcerated know the dog will be making rounds, they may be less likely to try to obtain and keep the outlawed devices.

States like South Carolina might look to Ohio for solutions to their problem, which they are attempting to remedy by legislation. Officials in the Palmetto State, who are battling prisoner use of social networks for both entertainment and harassment of victims and further criminal enterprises, have looked into punishing anyone outside or inside the prison that helps an inmate with a social networking account with a $500 fine and an extra 30 days in prison.

And in Texas, a prisoner broke out of a Beaumont facility using a smartphone to enlist the help of a Facebook fan to help with the getaway, prompting Lone Star state officials to further clamp down on the devices.

Policy experts say efforts to reduce the effects of mobile devices in jail are less effective than having good contraband policies in place to reduce them, and Tank is turning out to be a good, albeit cuddly, policy enforcer.

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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 session in Hagerstown.

The specialty dogs have made such an impact that law enforcement from more than 25 different jurisdictions as far away as Israel and Canada are calling for advice, said Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman Mark Vernarelli.

“Cell phones have become such a problem within the last year or so that many jurisdictions have seen the tremendous proliferation of cell phones in prisons,” he said.

Cell phones provide inmates with an easy, constant connection with the people and, consequently, lifestyle that resulted in their incarceration, he said.

To combat the problem, the department called on Canine Unit Command Maj. Peter Anderson, who bred the litter of puppies specially trained to detect cell phones.

Anderson, who hosted the training session, used Buddy to show the visiting agencies what to expect in the initial stages of training when dogs are learning how to find the phones inside boxes, shoes and even televisions.

“Cell phones are like everything else, they have their own unique scent signature, and once you get the dogs honed in on that scent, it’s basically repetition,” he said.

“As long as they find the cell phone and get rewarded for it, they’re going to keep trying even harder.”

Buddy, who is rewarded with a rubber ball, will be ready by early spring to join three dogs that have found 33 cell phones at state institutions in the past four months.

The dogs, which are more cost effective and reliable than machines that jam cell phone signals, also have acted as a deterrent for future cell phone smugglers, Anderson said.

The sound of paws padding along prison floors is followed by frantic inmates flushing toilets and dropping cell phones from upper levels to avoid being caught by a simple sniff.

Inmates, along with prison staff members and correctional officers, can face stiff penalties for contraband, such as criminal charges, said Rick Binetti, a Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman.

Inmates can face up to an additional year in prison, he said, and staff members can lose their job.

Source

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