This is an interesting opinion piece on the importance of adequate state prison funding and the impact of insufficient financial resources on prison safety, correctional officer morale and prisoner recidivism.

There is an opportunity however to turn this budget-busting problem into a source of new revenue by offering a secure prison cell phone solution that provides inmates a sanctioned, controlled cell phone service in place of a smuggled cell phone.

Some attempts to get tough on prisoners have turned out to be tougher on prison guards and staff.

And some measures to save money have ended up costing more.

The Legislature should recognize that protecting the state from criminals is one of its core functions — and should be funded adequately.

Stanley Burtt, retired warden of Lieber Correctional Facility, lays the blame for problems on politicians. In a recent letter to the editor, he asserted that Lieber’s staff does a good job in very difficult circumstances.

Even still, problems arise. Last month, two correctional officers standing watch over 229 of the state’s most dangerous offenders were injured after inmates set off a five-hour riot.

With more money to pay for more staff, and to pay staff more, Lieber would be a safer place, even with its population of hardened prisoners.

Not only would they be better able to intercept contraband items like cell phones and drugs thrown over the fence to prisoners, they would be better able to slow down the high rate of turnover among the staff.

In a later interview, Mr. Burtt told us that the people who work at prisons where the worst criminals are kept are paid only slightly more than those who work at lower security facilities. The working conditions at Lieber are sometimes akin to “open warfare,” he says.

So there is little incentive to stay at Lieber if there is an option to work at other institutions like McDougall Correctional Institute in Ridgeville, which Mr. Burtt describes as more like a day camp.

Budget cuts can mean that prison guards work virtually in isolation. That increases risk and eliminates the esprit de corps that Mr. Burtt says is needed to help staff members cope with their often unpleasant jobs. It’s another disincentive to stay on the job.

And when the budget gets tight, prison schools are often targeted. Another mistake. Inmates who are in school — many learning the most basic skills like reading — are less likely to be a problem that those who have nothing to do.

The legislative decision to take away weight training from prisoners also has backfired, Mr. Burtt says. Inmates need a way to expend energy. Weights provided that release.

Funding also should be adequate to maintain programs to rehabilitate prisoners who will eventually return to the community and live.

To do otherwise is to encourage recidivism.

Mr. Burtt believes that more resources for mental health treatment would ease the tensions. A significant percentage of prisoners have severe psychiatric problems.

Better funding for prisons isn’t a popular platform for a politician.

Prisoners don’t vote. And taxpayers resent having to spend a dime to keep murderers, rapists and thieves fed and sheltered.

But failing to fund prisons adequately shouldn’t be an option. Security is essential to keeping the bad guys in jail — and keeping prison staff members safe.

Both should be a priority for lawmakers in their budget deliberations this year.

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A news video showing a K9 searching for contraband smuggled cell phones in a Florida jail.

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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. And so far, prison officials are fighting a losing battle to keep inmates from obtaining cell phones and using them to communicate with people both inside and outside prison walls.

Recently in Serbia took place an interesting case regarding this issue, when local jail inmates sent SMS messages from their cells in program of a TV show. This correspondence of prisoners with family and friends was registered by the operational center of the “Authority for management of criminal sanction”, an organ of Ministry of Justice of Republic of Serbia. It has been discovered that some inmates from lower security level areas of prisons, where television watching is allowed, received messages until early morning hours via a TV show called “Farm”, and sent SMS to family members and friends from their smuggled mobile phones. During unannounced inspections in several prisons in Serbia last year, authorities found 22 smuggled mobile phones, as well as 20 hand-made daggers, several bars and a few grams of substances which are found to be narcotics. Serbian Ministry of Justice then announced that this action of confiscation was part of a unannounced check and search operation of all areas and inmates in correctional institutions in Niš, Požarevac, Sremska Mitrovica, District Prison in Belgrade and correctional institutions in Kruševac and Valjevo. The problem of contraband cell phones in prisons have all countries in the region. This year, there were few such cases in Croatian prisons, where several inmates used mobile phones to threaten witnesses. Furthermore, it was discovered that some prisoners used mobile phones to coordinate drug trafficking from countries of the region to Croatia. Inmates sometimes use cell phones to keep in touch with friends and family on the outside — collect calls made from inside prison facilities are notoriously expensive. But officials say cell phones are also being used to orchestrate crimes, harass witnesses, organize retaliation against other inmates and even order hits. Mobile phones in prison cells is a problem symptomatic in most correctional institutions in the world. In California, home to one of the largest prison systems in the world, more than 2,800 cell phones were confiscated from inmates last year, double the number seized in 2007. In Texas, prison officials seized 549 cell phones from inmates in the first four months of this year alone. In California, a prison staff member admitted to earning more than $100,000 last year by selling cell phones to inmates. Germany also did not remain immune to this phenomenon . The German Ministry of Justice issued a fact that in 2009., prison authorities across Germany confiscated 286 cell phones from inmates. In many prisons, cell phones have become as valuable as drugs, if not more so. In a recent sting operation in Texas, an undercover officer was offered $200 by a prisoner for a cell phone and only $50 for heroin. California officials say inmates currently fork over between $100 and $400 to obtain a smuggled cell phone. It’s easy to understand why cell phones command such a premium. Unlike the one-time sale of drugs, an inmate can rent out the same phone dozens of times to fellow inmates.

Technical Issues in Checking Contraband Cell Phone Use in Jails and Prisons

“In the broadest sense, contraband cell phones are a technical problem and eliminating them demands a technical solution. Technology advances have allowed them to be made smaller and more powerful – and easier to conceal. These days phones are half the size of a cigarette pack, and SIM cards, which can be used interchangeably on most cell phones, are smaller than a postage stamp,” said Terry L. Bittner, Director of Security Products, ITT, manufacturer of commercial and military security solutions. Bittner said conventional methods of locating them will only become more difficult. Detection systems have shown that general shakedown searches have failed to detect them. Dogs can be trained to detect cell phones and have had some success, but they aren’t foolproof. The case for jamming is certainly intuitive – if jamming signals could be precisely controlled as advertized. Jamming systems have been used for everything from blinding enemy antiaircraft radars to blocking or attempting to block the Voice of America. By some reports, the Soviets were spending more to jam VOA broadcasts than the United States was spending to transmit them. Jamming is used as a temporary force protection method against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). ”Jamming is also largely effective – sometimes too effective. Some systems will not only prevent cell phones from being used in the jail, but near the jail as well. Most of our experience with this effect is from overseas. In both India and Brazil, cell phones up to five kilometers from the prison were jammed by the prison jamming systems. Recently, a prison in Ireland was forced to stop jamming because their system interfered with the legitimate cell phone signals in the hospital across the street from the facility,” Bittner said. Proposed American prison jamming systems also have gaps to avoid interfering with bandwidths used by emergency first responders. Public Safety communications in the 800 MHz band are interleaved with commercial wireless systems, so jamming equipment intended for use in the United States doesn’t jam that band. That’s good for first responders, but could also make the cell phones using that bandwidth, such as Nextel’s, the inmates’ carrier of choice. And that brings up another problem with jamming – it produces no intelligence. Cell phone signals are blocked, but prison authorities have no idea whether cell phones are present and/or where they are located. Jamming creates the illusion of security. An inmate with a contraband phone on an unjammed bandwidth, or from a dead zone can make calls with relative impunity. Buttner notes the optimal solution is a system that prevents phones from getting into the prison in the first place. But a system that detects and locates the cell phones inside the prison, alerting authorities to their presence and location, and giving them the option to move immediately to confiscation or to observe them in action to gain intelligence on the movement of contraband is the next best thing. And the system should also have lower or comparable costs to that of jamming equipment. ”Radio frequency (RF) detection systems do not require any special legislation. They are already legal, and indeed, are being used in several prisons in the United States. Most systems simply detect the signals emitted by the phones, both when being used in conversations and when they periodically “ping” the nearest cell phone tower. If you leave your phone near a computer or television set, that buzzing sound you intermittently hear is the phone contacting the tower,” Bitnner said. RF detection systems consist of a network of receivers deployed throughout the prison that continually scan the entire cell phone spectrum many times a second. Continual scanning makes it nearly impossible to evade detection by keeping calls brief or only turning on the phone when making a call. When a cell phone transmission is detected, special triangulation software immediately pinpoints its location. The system also logs all captured events. ”Detection-only systems do not permit users to listen in on the conversations or gather telephone numbers. Systems that do allow for the interception of calls, phone numbers and text messages still require an accurate location so that those in close proximity to the prison are not intercepted (similar to jamming). Any cell phone in the hands of an inmate is contraband, and warrants to tap into the conversations can be obtained. Indeed, gang members operating in a Baltimore prison were nabbed in precisely this manner,” Bittner added. Detection systems allow authorized corrections officers and other authorized officials to carry their own cell phones, the most economical form of communications, within the facility, which would otherwise be blocked by jammers. They also enable officers to target searches, both for cell phones and the other contraband like drugs that the presence of cell phones indicates. Bittner added that perhaps the most effective solution combines detection with specially trained dogs. Dogs can be effective in finding contraband phones, but they have certain weak points. Like humans, they can lose interest, especially when much time is spent and nothing is found. Directed searches ensure that they are always hunting where the ducks are, as it were, ensuring they stay alert and enthusiastic. Indeed, a combination of detection and dogs may be the most powerful possible check to contraband cell phones. Corrections officials have a heavy responsibility in deciding wisely about deterring contraband cell phone use. As the vote in the U.S. Senate suggests, the politically “safe” proposal may be to jam because it is a solution that, in concept, is easy to understand. But jamming devices are being marketed beyond the walls, and the prison contraband may be the camel’s nose inside the tent. Jamming devices are being marketed to churches, theaters, schools, libraries, shopping malls, hotels (where house phone use and its attendant fees have all but disappeared), public transportation, office buildings and restaurants. Public safety officials are already worried about their ability to receive emergency calls, most of which now come from cell phones. So the technical decisions corrections officials make will have implications far beyond the prison or jail walls.

Signal jammers in prisons in the region

Last year, the “Authority of prison system” of Republic of Croatia initiated the action of implementing systems for signal interference and mobile phones detection around prison units across Croatia. The System deployment started with the purpose of precise “choking” of signals with special antennas, and mobile phone detection using non-linear detectors, which will enable to find them in prison cells even when disassembled. Furthermore, special detectors will operate at prison entrances, with whom will be searched for contrabands. This action is a part of a project to improve the security level in prison units worth 5.5 million kuna, and whose deployment will be finished until 2012. “Department of prison system” director Miroslav Mihoci, states that after the implementation of the system, cases like Cvikova, where prison authorities found two mobile phones in a prison cell, will not be repeated as soon as they secure funds for the purchase of this sophisticated technology. “We have already presented these projects to foreign donors and now we are waiting for the money. For detectors, some of which are already purchased, we will spend about 616,000 kuna, and the rest will fall off for focused antennas,” Mihoci said. Mobile phone detectors are already in use and are similar to metal detectors or explosive device detectors. They alarm even when mobile phones in its detection area are turned off. So far, the signal jamming antennas were not used because they were not precise enough and apart from prison buildings, many of which are located in populated areas, they were interfering with signals from users outside the prison. New, so-called directional antennas, when purchased, will be able to accurately determine the area where the signal has to be blocked. Legal expert for telecommunications ?uro Lubura explained that in this case, jammers are installed in each prison cell, and all prisons can be merged into a single system throughout the prison. “Such project would allow detection of any unauthorized communication attempt with precise detection of the prison cell. System administrators would have the ability to determine whether the system would just register the communication attempt or to do both, register and prevent the communication. While ordinary GSM signal jammers of great power radiate all the time and interfere with the signal in the protected areas, but also in the surrounding areas, our system radiates a very short time, and only after it detects illegal communications,” Lubura said. Croatia Minister of Justice Ivan Simonovi? and Miroslav Mihoci stated that the prison system reform will need more than a billion kuna in the next five years. They plan to get most of this money from loans by Council of Europe Development Bank, where some of the loaned money is non-refundable. “Part of the money will be obtained from donations by international funds, and the rest will be financed from the budget,” Simonovic said. This project, as well as the satellite surveillance of conditional convicts, electronic bracelet system and the construction of new facilities, are parts of the Action Plan to reform the prison system.

System implementation well underway in correctional facilities across Germany

Germany stands out as the leader in deployment of signal jamming systems and of mobile phones detection systems in Europe. Mr. Lubura as an example cites a prison in Hinfeld, Germany, where prison authorities implemented this system in 502 prison cells. “Implemented this way the system poses no risk of harmful radiation to humans,” Lubura states. German Federal state Baden-Württemberg installed signal jamming systems across its correctional institutions in 2008, being the first in Germany to do this. Systems were installed as a response to the large number of cell phones found in prison cells. Namely, 2007 in prisons of this region, which counts a total of 6450 prisoners, authorities found 153 contraband cell phones. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice of Baden-Württemberg reacted to this problem, implementing a specially designed system for signal jamming. A large number of signal jammers were installed across all prisons, whose interference range is just a few meters. This investment worth several million euros, Minister of Justice of this region, Ulrich Goll, rated as a complete success: “Contraband cell phones in prison units and their use in criminal purposes was a big security problem. Thus, we are pleased that the applied systems work, and that they do not interfere with signals outside the prison walls at any stage.”

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Here is a video report on the problems with contraband prison cell phones smuggled into Texas jails:

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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 secure prison cell phone service that reduces the contraband value of the smuggled phones.

A bill aimed at curbing widespread cellphone proliferation in state prisons is on its way to the state Assembly after clearing the Senate.

Senate Bill 26 attempts to crack down on the smuggling of cellphones and other wireless communication devices into California prisons – such as California Institution for Men and California Institution for Women, both in Chino.

The bill – which was introduced by State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys – was approved 39 to 0 by the Senate last week.

The Assembly’s Public Safety Committee is expected to next hear the bill.

Under the proposed legislation, smuggling a cellphone into prison would bring a misdemeanor charge, which would be punishable by six months in jail, as well as a fine of up to $5,000 per phone.

Inmates who are found to be in possession of the devices would face a loss of time credits that could not be restored.

Local Republican lawmakers said the legislation should have carried a felony punishment for violators.

An earlier incarnation of the bill, S.B. 434, would have made the act of smuggling a felony, but the proposal was killed in committee over concerns that it would aggravate prison overcrowding, officials said.

“It’s very difficult to get liberal legislators to pass anything with a felony out of committee anymore,” said Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, who sits on the Public Safety Committee. “With a misdemeanor, all it’s going to do is let people with six-month sentences out after a day or two because of overcrowding. I wish this was stronger.”

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, said that while he supports S.B. 26, the legislation should have carried a felony charge for violators.

“You have shot callers ordering hits from inside, and there are a lot of guys continuing their criminal career,” Donnelly said. “I think it’s time to put a stop to it in the name of public safety and common sense.”

Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Chino, said inmate overcrowding is preventing the bill from carrying a felony charge.

“We would all love to be more punitive, but with the issue of overcrowding, I think this is a good compromise, and I am supportive,” Torres said. “I represent the Chino prison. I’ve been there more times then I care to spend. 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.”

Prison inmates have used smuggled cellphones to plan attacks, coordinate drug movement and sales, direct street gangs, communicate with other inmates and the public, videotape guard tactics as well as arrange escapes, officials said.

Cellphone 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.

Under current law, smuggling cellphones into state prison does not carry criminal or financial sanctions, Padilla said.

S.B. 26 is Padilla’s fourth attempt to criminalize smuggling and possession of cellphones in prison.

Cult leader Charles Manson, who is doing time at Corcoran State Prison in Kings County, was twice caught possessing a cellphone in the past two years.

“Criminals like Charles Manson, who had two cellphones, don’t deserve a friends and family plan,” Hagman said.

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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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This article describes the dangers of not replacing smuggled cell phones in prison with a secure prison cell phone service that records all calls, controls the telephone numbers the cell phone can dial and blocks access to the internet.

In most states, if you smuggle a cell phone into a prison, you could end up serving time behind bars yourself. But California has no law to keep contraband cell phones from inmates. A fact that Robert Johnson is very familiar with.

Johnson used to be a prison guard captain in South Carolina. Last year, he was getting ready for work when someone kicked in the front door of his house.

“All of a sudden I hear this ‘boom,'” said Johnson. “I heard somebody yell ‘Police!’ So I come out the bathroom. We meet in the hallway.”

Johnson came face-to-face with a man holding a gun.

“We tussled and somehow I guess he broke away and he raised his .38 and he shot me point blank range in the stomach and chest six times,” said Johnson.

That pistol wasn’t the only weapon aimed at Johnson. The other was the cell phone an inmate used to order the “hit.” Johnson says an inmate had been selling cell phones to other inmates for 800 dollars a pop. Johnson had cracked down on his operation.

“Through a cell phone, he found exactly where I lived at,” said Johnson. “He found the city. He even found my phone number — all through the Internet with his cell phone.”

The suspects face federal charges. Johnson, now 58, spent three months in the hospital. His days as a prison guard are over. Johnson recounted his story at a recent conference hosted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Department’s Richard Subia says inmates use cell phones to order hits, run drug rings, and threaten victims, witnesses and judges.

“We’ve found cell phones in walls, put down inside of walls, inside of toilets, in peanut butter, in garlic,” said Subia.

According to Subia, prison staff confiscated 11,000 cell phones from inmates last year. Prison visitors, young and old, smuggled them in. So did prison workers.

“We had an officer that we stopped in one of our northern California prisons who said he made $100,000 in one year for bringing in cell phones,” said Rubia. “One hundred thousand dollars!”

The Department of Corrections fires staff that smuggle unlocked cell phones. But the Attorney General can’t prosecute them or the inmates who use the phones unless a phone was used to commit a crime. State Senator Alex Padilla says that is “not good enough.”

“There are no consequences for the inmates who are caught with cell phones and there is no consequence for either a visitor or an employee who is caught smuggling cell phones in, and that is unacceptable,” said Padilla.

The San Fernando Valley Democrat authored a bill to make it a misdemeanor to smuggle cell phones into prison. Anyone convicted would get six months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine per phone. Padilla’s bill would also extend the sentences of inmates found with contraband phones. But doing that is costly, which is why the Senate Appropriations Committee shelved the measure.

The Department of Finance estimates longer sentences cost up to $50,000 more per year, per inmate. But Senator Padilla argues the state will save money by preventing crimes carried out with wholesale cell phones.

“We don’t suspect, we know that they are being used by inmates to commit and coordinate crimes both inside and outside of prisons,” said Padilla.

The Senate Appropriations Committee put Padilla’s bill “on suspense,” which is a kind of legislative backwater for more costly bills. The committee will reconsider those bills on a single day in May. Most bills on suspense die in committee.

Source

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