Evidently now even the FBI is smuggling cell phones into California prisons! According to this article, “Sources said Monday that the deputy allegedly caught in the sting accepted the money to smuggle the cellphone to the inmate, who was locked up at the Men’s Central Jail. Unbeknownst to the deputy, the inmate was working as an informant for the FBI.” Besides the jurisdictional issues and bad press for both organizations, the larger issue remains. Why […]
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Armed with only an illegal cellphone and a cadre of secret shoppers, an inmate at the nation’s largest single federal prison was able to coordinate upwards of $1 million in credit card fraud in the outside world. According to a rather exhaustive piece in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the inmate, already serving time in New Jersey for credit card fraud, would spend up to 17 hours a day on his phone, calling directory assistance to ask […]
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would be toughening the conditions of imprisonment for terrorists but some jailors, it seems, did not “get the memo.” According to the Yisrael Hayom newspaper, two jailors have been caught smuggling cell phones to imprisoned terrorists. A third reported being offered a bribe for a similar action. One jailor was arrested recently and questioned by the Unit for Investigating Jailors on suspicion he smuggled cell phones to Hadarim […]
Contraband prison cell phones are as much of a problem in federal prisons as they are in state facilities. The smuggling of cell phones into jails and prisons continues to grow and, as this article states, “The Federal Bureau of Prisons confiscated more than 2,600 cell phones from minimum-security facilities like FCI Seagoville, and nearly 600 from secure federal institutions in 2009.” That number surely grew in 2010 and 2011. Two cell phones were discovered […]
Another article about the corrupting influence of contraband such as cell phones on guards in prison. Interestingly, this guard, “charged $200 to get drugs into the jail, $200 for a carton of cigarettes and $250 for a cell phone.” Is the ability to communicate with loved ones while in jail more valuable to prisoners than drugs or cigarettes? On Monday a former District of Columbia Department of Corrections officer pleaded guilty to charges of accepting […]
A story about the improper use of contraband cell phones in Texas prisons. A death row inmate paid $2100 for the phone. Fourteen death row inmates were found with contraband prison cell phones. Texas State Senator John Whitmire calls it the most unusual phone call of his life. “Nothing shocks me anymore, but this would probably take first prize for the biggest, unbelievable story,” said the Senator from Houston. “No Texan should have to worry […]
This editorial makes the case that there should be stiff felony penalties for anyone caught smuggling cell phones into prisons or accepting bribes for cell phones. And that those penalties should be even tougher for prison guards. While tougher penalties may be effective, we believe reducing the contraband value of cell phones in prison will be the most effective way to reduce prison cell phone smuggling. If prisoners no longer need to pay $1000 or […]
Of course we know that making it illegal will not stop the demand and therefore not stop contraband cell phones from being smuggled into prisons. Only addressing the demand for prison cell phones by providing a secure prison cell phone service will reduce the contraband value of smuggled cell phones. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is lobbying to revive a bill that would make it illegal to smuggle cellphones into California prisons. Currently, it’s a violation […]
A former guard at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, OK was ordered Monday to stand trial on a charge of bringing two cell phones and several pouches of tobacco into secure areas of the private prison in Cushing. Danny James Galbreath, 24, of Broken Arrow, waived his right Monday to a preliminary hearing on the felony count of bringing cell phones into the prison — which are considered contraband in a penal facility. Galbreath […]
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 […]