A few years ago, as a consultant to Securus, I was responsible for the development and launch of a brand new line of business for Securus focused on the profitable delivery of integrated justice information combined with unique analytical and heuristic tools to facilitate the investigative process of criminal investigators at the federal, state and local level.

The service was called “Electronic Dragnet” and its purpose was to enhance detectives’ crime fighting efforts and increase their conviction rate through the provision of an investigation and crime analysis portal which provided access to a unique and comprehensive set of data (primarily prison phone call information) combined with integrated, proprietary tools to recognize patterns and collect evidence.

Securus’s recent purchase of DirectHit Systems, Inc, the developer of the Threads phone analysis tool, is a clear continuation of that strategy. The article below discusses how a jail in Iowa will be deploying this software as part of its current contract with Securus Technologies.

A major concern in the use of contraband cell phones in prison is the fact that the call content, and associated call data, is not being captured. Now this data can be captured by replacing smuggled cell phones with a secure prison cell phone solution such as meshDETECT that records and stores this critical information for use by law enforcement.

Starting soon, inmates at the Polk County jail will have to pay an extra 15 cents per telephone call to help investigators dig up information on the inmates and their friends.

Polk’s Board of Supervisors voted this morning to approve the purchase of a new, roughly $75,000 add-on to the telephone system used at the Polk County Jail.

A proposed amendment to the county’s contract with Texas-based Securus Technologies Inc. would let the company sell Polk access to Threads, a new so-called “pointer” system used to find patterns in massive amounts of calling data.

Language in the proposed contract amendment calls Threads “a powerful, easy to use, intuitive tool that will automatically analyze investigative data, such as inmate communication records, public phone records and data from confiscated cell phones to generate focused leads for investigators, including suspicious calling patterns, inner circles, communication events to numbers on a bounce list, associations between multiple inmates and their correlation to called parties.”

Frank Marasco, director of the sheriff department’s Office of Planning and Development, send the new software is intended mainly to help with investigations but that it also would help with certain jail security concerns.

“It’s more of a crime-fighting tool outside the jail,” Marasco told supervisors this morning. “It can connect circles of crime.”

Telephones at the Polk County Jail long have been something less than private. The jail phone system requires that money for calls be placed on an account and that inmates punch in a unique eight- to 10-digit personal identification number when making their calls.

Calls routinely are recorded – “for security purposes,” according to a handbook handed out to inmates at the jail. But efforts to monitor those recordings sometimes have been hampered by inmates who, in exchange for other favors, have traded PIN numbers and essentially placed calls under other names.

County officials say inmates also have been known to call a friend at the same time as a criminal associate and have the friend patch both calls together.

The new system won’t stop that behavior, but it will make it easier to catch.

A Threads website says the software, which maps calling patterns, “uncovers witness tampering, pinpoints outside criminal organizations being run from prison and identifies individuals in the community facilitating calls between inmates.”

The entire cost of the software will be borne by adding 15 cents to the cost of an inmate phone call. Marasco said Polk inmates will still pay less than $2.50 for a 20-minute phone call, which is roughly the national average.

County records show inmates at the Polk County Jail made 498,678 phone calls in the year that ended June 30. The county sent roughly $516,000 to Securus during that same period.

Source

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This news report discusses the problem of contraband cell phones smuggled into a Ghana prison. According to the article, “the most precious commodity inside the Nsawam prison today is the mobile phone.” It also states, “The use of mobile phones in our facilities has become a serious business raking in money for both inmates and prison officers.” As discussed in an earlier blog post, contraband cell phones are now seen to be the prison system’s greatest threat here in the United States as well. Any solution to this problem, whether here or abroad, should include a strategy to address the demand for as well as the supply of contraband cell phones.

Hardened criminals in Ghanaian jail houses may be coordinating armed robbery attacks and running narcotic drug businesses from behind bars, investigations by The Globe newspaper have revealed.

The Globe has established growing use of illegal cellular phones in Ghana’s jail houses, especially at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison. There is a long lasting ban on the use of mobile phones behind bars. Our investigations established that ever smaller handsets allow phones to be smuggled in by prisoners, visitors or corrupt staff.

On January 9, 2012, the total number of inmates in the nation’s jail houses stood at 13,588. At the Nsawam Prison, official figures put the population of inmates at 3,512. But, it is unknown the unknown the number of inmates at Nsawam who have access to the smuggled mobile phones. “Indeed, the most precious commodity inside the Nsawam prison today is the mobile phone”, said a worried junior officer with the Ghana Prisons Service, who wished not to be named. There are fears illegal phones could fuel prison drug trading, bullying and gang problems.

Behind bars, phones can cost 300 Ghana cedis (~$174 US), the phones are usually paid for by relations and friends of phone-seeking inmates. Smuggled into the prisons by relations of inmates and in many cases prison officers, the phones are used to organise narcotic drug deals, intimidate victims, and plan armed robbery attacks from prison with criminal gangs outside the prison walls. “The use of mobile phones in our facilities has become a serious business raking in money for both inmates and prison officers,” the officer said.

“It is an issue that has been with us for some time now,” the young Prison Officer told the Globe newspaper, adding: “Top management of the Prison Service is aware, but has virtually refused to deal with the problem.” “Visitors to the facilities and some corrupt senior officers are the ones fueling the illegal practice,” said the officer.

The revelations come at the time some European countries and some states in the United States have stepped up crack-down on illegal mobile phone use in their jail houses, after a series of bloody prison violence blamed on phones smuggled into prison cells.

Source

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A state-wide network of Georgia ex-cons smuggled contraband cell phones into prisons on demand and at $300 per cell phone. Drugs were also smuggled into the Georgia DOC facilities.

State, area and local investigators have uncovered a trail of cell phones, marijuana and tobacco that led straight to state prisons.

Several people were arrested here and in Colquitt County in connection with the operation. At least one other arrest is expected in Thomas County.

The statewide investigation showed a prisoner would request the contraband and tell the suspects where to leave the items.

The activity involved a vast network of co-conspirators outside the prisons.

The contraband would be left away from the prisons, said Kevin Lee, commander of the Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division.

“The location could be on a work detail,” Lee explained. “It could be anywhere.”

The Georgia Department of Corrections Investigation Unit participated in the probe. The state agency did not respond Thursday to a request for information.

In Thomas County, Henry Curtis Ansley III, also known as Bubba, 38, 708 Hunters Chase, is charged with criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of Hydrocodone.

Ansley is a former state prison inmate, who served time with another person charged in the investigation.

Lee said investigators found various addresses in Ansley’s text messages that told where he was to leave prison contraband.

“An ounce of marijuana will go for $400 to $500 in prison,” the commander said. A cell phone costs an inmate about $300.

When he was arrested, Ansley had hydrocodone pills in a pocket, and officers found more of the narcotic pain killer at his residence.

A corrections officer at Colquitt County Correctional Institute is charged in the case.

Richard Dale Roberts, 43, 10 Wiregrass Circle, Moultrie, is charged with violation of oath of office, felony possession of marijuana, illegal use of a communications device and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Steve Exum, commander of the Colquitt County Drug Enforcement Team, said charges on Roberts stemmed from information received from the correctional institute warden about contraband being brought into the facility.

Exum said Roberts was attempting to deliver marijuana to the correctional institute.

“It was marijuana he has just purchased from an FBI task force officer,” Exum explained.

Also charged in the case are Billy Joe Bowling, 35, 161 Dogwood Lane, Thomasville; Marcos Lewis Brewer, 22, 775 Flintside Drive, Cobb; and Jason Curry Icard, 39, 310 Highway 240 South, Buena Vista.

Bowling and Brewer are on parole, said Cpl. Kim Young of the Colquitt County drug agency.

Ansley and Brewer were in the same prison at the same time, Young explained.

Bowling, Brewer and Icard, who are charged with felony marijuana possession, were traveling in a red Honda Civic that did not stop at a stop sign in Colquitt County. A deputy made a traffic stop.

The marijuana was thrown from the car’s sunroof, Young said, adding that the contraband being tossed from the vehicle was recorded on video by a camera in the deputy’s car.

Seized in the Colquitt County arrests were a large quantity of cell phones and chargers and 90 bags of loose-leaf tobacco.

“They admitted to the intent of dropping the contraband at several state prisons, and they had several times prior,” Young said.

Source

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This article is about yet another prison guard caught smuggling a contraband cell phone into jail. Given the high price paid by inmates for an illegal cell phone, the corruption of prison guards has become all to commonplace. A reduction of the contraband value of smuggled cell phones through the deployment of the meshDETECT secure prison cell phone solution will change the economics of this problem and reduce prison cell phone smuggling without the high cost of wireless jammers.

A former San Joaquin County jailer arrested for allegedly smuggling a cell phone to an inmate pleaded guilty Thursday to unlawfully accessing a computer database, according to court documents.

The guilty plea of Michael George McCann, 41, almost guarantees his career in law enforcement is over, said San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Donald Vaughn.

“I don’t know of any law enforcement agency anywhere that would hire a convicted felon,” Vaughn said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

McCann was arrested on Jan. 6 after an investigation uncovered he had allegedly smuggled a cell phone into the jail. The prosecution had photographic evidence of McCann meeting an inmate’s significant other at a convenience store and receiving money, Vaughn said.

While he faced multiple charges in connection to the smuggling and unlawful access, the bulk of the charges were thrown out in the interest of justice, according to court documents.

Although he may not serve any time behind bars as part of his plea, Vaughn said he was pleased with the outcome because it shows the public wrongdoing will not be tolerated.

“He’s leaving here as a convicted felon on probation,” he said.

Vaughn would not speculate what McCann’s motive was for accessing the database.

The situation is an unfortunate one because it taints the image of the county and its justice system, the prosecutor said.

“It’s a sad case for all of law enforcement,” he said. “Citizens have to be able to trust law enforcement officers in order for them to do their job; people like McCann really hurt the community.”

McCann had been an employee of the San Joaquin Sheriff’s office since January of 2002, Sheriff’s spokesperson Les Garcia previously said. The department did not comment on McCann’s plea because he is no longer an employee.

Officials also declined comment on if procedures or protocols for correctional officers have changed since McCann’s arrest.

The former correction officer will be sentenced September 23. He could face between 0 days and 1 year in jail, Vaughn said. A probation report will be prepared prior to his sentencing to give the judge an objective look at what his punishment should be, Vaughn said.

“How much time he spends in jail, if any, will be up to the judge,” he said.

McCann’s lawyer, Gary Lacy, could not be reached for comment.

Source

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It seems at some prisons, almost anything can be smuggled in and in this prison contraband cell phones are the least of the of the problems.

Prison officials have opened an inquiry into an embarrassing photo report that shows prisoners throwing a Roman-themed party complete with togas and fake swords, as well as tequila and caviar, right in a cell.
The photos were leaked Monday by the tabloid news site Lifenews.ru, which said they depicted the birthday party of convicted robber Anton Kuznetsov, staged sometime after New Year’s in a pretrial detention center in the Moscow region town of Serpukhov.

One grainy photograph, apparently taken with a cell phone camera, shows smiling, half-naked young men in improvised Roman attire with foil-covered toy swords and tridents making faces at the camera. One wears a foil crown, another a mask, and a sad-faced mustachioed man in one corner sports a fake lion’s mane.
Other photos show the same men, changed into T-shirts and sport outfits, at a lavish table set with snacks and alcohol. Kuznetsov is seen spooning salmon roe from a bowl in one picture and receiving McDonald’s food through the cell’s food slot in another.

The photos were discovered on an account on a social networking site, the report said, without elaborating.
Lifenews.ru said Kuznetsov, 26, was the leader of the detention center’s inmates while he was jailed there and later was sentenced to 12 years for robbery. A prison service source told the tabloid that the party could not have been staged without the authorization of the jail’s administration.

Prison rules allow no birthday parties behind bars, as well as no cell phones and alcohol, the Federal Prison Service said in a statement Tuesday, RIA-Novosti reported. The agency added that it had opened an investigation into the matter.

Source

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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 the inside, but not cheap. “$1,500, $1,000, $1,550, it all depends,” Simmons said”

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