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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Officials tasked with controlling the waves of contraband cell phones in prisons are at a disadvantage. Their options include costly new investment in complex jamming technologies, increasing staff, more physical searches, or new processes; all added to an already over burdened work force. In each case, cell phone control will be expensive, and results will be elusive.

meshDETECT is a cell phone access and control platform that was developed to satisfy the access control and forensic expectations of the prison officials ultimately responsible for communications access, as well as to address the legitimate desire of detainees who now go to great lengths smuggling cell phones in order to have two way communications with family and loved ones.

Trends demonstrate that the majority of prisoners are interested in using cell phones for legitimate communication, not criminal activities, and that agencies are losing a significant revenue opportunity by not offering secure cell phone access and controlled use.

For the first time, it is now possible to satisfy the expectations of everyone affected by the contraband cell phone issue without heavy technology investment, unnecessary staff expense, or any compromise in controls, security, or safety.

Curb Contraband Cell Phones By Reducing Their Value

Unnecessary risk and exposure will continue to impact prisons as long as contraband cell phones remain a black market item at an extremely high perceived value – and with no real controls curbing availability.

Delivered as a service, meshDETECT is a complete calling platform utilizing commercially available cell phones that are modified to meet the demanding operational and functional needs of a prison-authorized communications service offering. As authorized cell phones are brought into service, the demand for and value of smuggled cell phones drops dramatically.

Regardless of who currently organizes the smuggling of contraband cell phones into your prison, once the risk to reward equation reverses fewer and fewer will take that risk. More importantly, those detainees who you determine deserve a more flexible communications opportunity will be able to do so safely, affordably, and within your full control.

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