Update (4/14): The DOJ just announced that it will require Federal Bureau of Prison halfway houses to boost services for inmates prior to release. The new rules also instruct federal work release facilities to provide cell phone access in order to help inmates seek employment opportunities.

This blog post written by Seth Ferranti, a Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate, provides an inside view of the problem of contraband cell phones in federal prison. As we have written, the problem of cell phones smuggled into prisons is dealt with entirely through a supply-side strategy meant to stop the flow of contraband wireless devices into the prison and increase the penalties for being caught with a smuggled phone.

The impact of this strategy, when effective, is to raise the value of the contraband in prison. As the article states, “All this succeeded in doing was making the prices for cell phones in prison skyrocket. Prisoners were still getting them in and using them. If you had the money you could buy one. Instead of just one prisoner having a phone, prisoners started grouping together, so that five prisoners might buy, keep and use one phone. It was more economical that way, with cell phones now going for upwards of $1500.”

As the blog post states, the airtime on cellphones has also become a new form of prison currency.

Providing prisoners, especially minimum security detainees, with a controlled and secure prison cell phone such as the meshDETECT solution will siphon off the predominant use of the contraband phones for communication with loved ones. Combined with the supply-side strategy, this demand-side approach will lower the value of the contraband wireless phones, eliminate airtime as prison currency and reduce recidivism.

Cell phones are more common in prison than you would think. All across the country in our nation’s prisons, prisoners are using cell phones to run their criminal enterprises, conduct business and stay in contact with their families. The smuggling of cell phones into prisons as contraband items has become a big and profitable business for guards and correctional officers who are quick to take advantage and make a dollar. The federal government is taking notice by enacting new and stiffer penalties for both guards and prisoners alike when they get caught with cell phones in prison. To the security conscious prison administrators, cell phones in prison are an epidemic that they are desperately trying to curtail. But with the large amounts of money changing hands for the contraband items the temptation will always be there for both guards and prisoners.

I have been in prison in the federal system for 19 years. Personally I have never had a cell phone or attempted to get one but being in the prison environment I have seen, heard and witnessed what has happened with cell phones over the years and I can relate my experiences to you. For informational purposes only of course. I first experienced the cell phone epidemic in 1999 when I transferred to FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey, a low security prison. Right when I got there, a dude I will call Jeff, approached and asked me if I needed to make a call. He went on to explain that the first call was free, but any call I made after that was three books of stamps, or about $15 at the time. I politely declined, because I did not know the dude and it was my first time in a low security prison. I had heard all types of stories of dudes going down to the lows and getting busted and set up for this type of thing, so I avoided Jeff.

But after I had been on the compound for a while I found out Jeff was a stand up guy and cell phones were his hustle. He had been at the camp at Fort Dix before and had an elaborate scheme where one of his homeboys would toss the phones over the fence of the low at a prearranged spot and Jeff would pick them up and sell them for about $200 to 300 on the compound and charge dudes $15 for unmonitored and unlimited calls. It was his hustle and his hustle was good. At the time the consequences of getting caught with a cell phone were not that serious. It was only considered a 300 series or minor shot, but that would soon change.

I got sent back up to a medium-high security institution shortly after that for writing an article in Don Diva Magazine that called for the United States to stage the drug war crime trials, where prosecutors and federal judges would be put on trial for crimes committed against the citizens of the United States, and in the medium-highs the cell phones were less prevalent, but still there. They were going for about $500. I was at FCI Fairton and a lot of the Mafia guys had cell phones. I had a lot of friends in camps and they were calling my wife on their cell phones regularly and talking to her and telling her to tell me hello. I even had some of their numbers on my prison monitored phone list. I would call them at the camp and see what was up. They would tell me I needed to get to a camp pronto. That was life in the feds. With the consequences for cell phones being minor, everyone, especially those at a camp (a minimum security prison) had one. That didn’t last long though.

With the epidemic reaching epic proportions the Bureau of Prisons acted decisively and changed the shot for cell phones from the light 300 series to a much more serious 100 series, which was the highest severity. They started writing prisoners, who got caught with cell phones 100 series shot and throwing them in the hole and transferring them. This was a big change, because for the 300 series shot, prisoners would lose their commissary for 30 to 60 days, but for the 100 series shots, they would get thrown in the whole for 60 days, lose 41 days good time plus phone, commissary and visiting privileges for six months. On top of that they would lose their camp status and be transferred to a higher security and much more restrictive prison.

All this succeeded in doing was making the prices for cell phones in prison skyrocket. Prisoners were still getting them in and using them. If you had the money you could buy one. Instead of just one prisoner having a phone, prisoners started grouping together, so that five prisoners might buy, keep and use one phone. It was more economical that way, with cell phones now going for upwards of $1500. Plus the Bureau of Prisons got crafty and started removing the Sims cards and all the info off them from the cell phones when they found them and ran the info against numbers on a prisoner’s monitored phone account, so that they could write them shots and throw them in the hole off the circumstantial evidence. So now, you don’t even have to be busted with the cell phone, if the number of your people is on there and they can match it up to your prison phone account or visiting list numbers they will write you a 100 series shot and throw you in the hole. But all this hasn’t stopped anything.

In 2006, I transferred to FCI Loretto in Pennsylvania and they had several guards bringing in cell phones, text messagers and even Smart Phones. Prisoners were going on the Internet, posting on Myspace and Facebook, texting their friends and families, even snapping photos and posting them on the social networking sites, all from prison. The phones were going for $500 to 800 and a lot of dudes had them. The SIS staff, who were in charge of prison investigations, were going nuts trying to find out who had the phones. They knew some of the Mafia guys had phones and went on a rampage, shaking down and ripping apart the lockers and rooms of anyone with an Italian surname.

There was one crazy guy from Boston, who used to send photos of his penis, a la Brett Favre, to girls he would meet on Myspace and Facebook. The girls would send back images of their private parts, which the dude would show to all his friends. The girls had no idea this guy was in prison. He never got busted or caught with the phone but other dudes did. It became a regular occurrence to get caught with a phone.

Nowadays the feds are giving prisoners caught with phones outside cases. I was just in the hole last spring here at FCC Forrest City in Arkansas with a dude who got busted with two cell phones. He got an outside case and got three more months on top of his sentence. He told me that even for two cell phones he could have only got six more months, but he was in the hole for almost nine months going to court for the case and was eventually transferred to a higher level prison and he got his phone privileges taken for five years. But he said it was worth it because when he was on the compound he had a sweet hookup similar to the one I described above with Jeff and he told me he was making a killing selling the cell phones and had his money stacked. But the feds and BOP aren’t playing when it comes to these phones, still they can’t do anything to stop them.

A certain rapper dude, whose name I won’t disclose, but was in prison with me, allegedly had a cell phone the whole time he was in prison. He was conducting his business, making plans and finalizing the deal on his new reality TV show. When his phones were found in searches and shakedowns, he would just place an order for another one and he would have it within two or three days, paying up to $1500 for it. One time they found two iPhones in his stash spot, but he didn’t sweat it. He had another one by the end of the week. But this is just hearsay and word on the pound, so who knows if it’s true.

The administration here seems to think that cell phones are coming in through the visiting room and they have changed up the whole visiting room policies because of this. My whole bid I have been able to hold my wife’s hand during visits, now due to the administration here saying that cell phones are coming in through the visits I can’t hold hands with my wife in the visiting room anymore. I can only hug and kiss her when she enters and leaves; the rest of the visit is no contact. They have even gone so far as to say that kids can’t sit on their father’s laps during visits. They are saying that there is no touching allowed at all.

It’s crazy times in the feds. I am glad that I will be out in the next couple of years, because it is only getting worse in here. The prison establishment knows their guards are bringing in the contraband but they blame us and make our families and loved ones suffer. Recently someone offered to sell me a cell phone for $1500, but I declined. I don’t need the trouble.

Source

The post Cell Phones in Federal Prison appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

This news video discusses the use of a cell phone-sniffing dog, appropriately named, “Sprint”, to find smuggled contraband cell phones in Oregon prisons. The video includes a demonstration of Sprint’s skills at the Santiam Correctional Institution in Salem.

Within seconds of the start of the demonstration, Sprint honed in on the scent of a cell phone hidden under an inmate’s pillow. According to the report, “High-end electronics such as cell phones have a unique odor. He’s not listening for sound, it’s not anything else. It’s all odor based.”

Interestingly, given the popularity and prevalence of contraband wireless phones, Sprint has yet to locate an inmate-smuggled phone. The meshDETECT secure cell phone solution uses uniquely identifiable cell phones so that they can be differentiated from contraband cell phones.

The post Detection Dog “Sniffs Out” Cell Phones Behind Bars appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

The main source of contraband cell phones in prison is the prison staff, including guards. They smuggle cell phones because the demand for wireless phones is so high that they can charge as much as $1000 per phone. This officer only received probation after being caught smuggling two cell phones. The threat of as many as three years in prison did not dissuade him from bringing contraband cell phones into his jail.

A former corrections officer at the Maryland Correctional Institution at Hagerstown was placed on probation for two years after pleading guilty Wednesday in Washington County District Court to smuggling telephones to two inmates.

Chad Struntz, 26, of 11610 Poplar Ave., Cumberland, Md., received probation before judgment after entering the plea before visiting Judge Frederick Bower, according to court records.

Under probation before judgment, a conviction can be removed from the defendant’s record if he or she successfully completes probation.

Struntz was placed on probation before judgment over the objection of the prosecution, Assistant State’s Attorney Leon Debes said after the hearing.

Struntz was interviewed on April 6 as part of an investigation into the discovery of a cellphone in the cell of two inmates, according to the application for statement of charges. The investigation revealed that Struntz had purchased the phone on Feb. 27, the charging documents said.

Struntz told investigators that he had purchased and delivered a cellphone to an inmate on two occasions in exchange for money, the documents said. The second phone was also recovered.

Struntz was charged with two counts of delivering a telecommunication device, court records said. The second charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, the records said.

State prison inmates are prohibited from having cellphones. The maximum penalty for delivering a telecommunication device to an inmate is three years in prison, court documents said.

Source

The post Corrections Officer On Probation For Smuggling Cell Phones appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

Contraband cell phones in prison are on a par with drugs in terms of the ability to corrupt guards. Prison guards who smuggle contraband cell phones into jails do so because of the high price placed on smuggled wireless phones. Reducing the contraband value of cell phones by offering a secure prison cell phone service minimizes the temptation to smuggle in the first place.

The Fulton County Sheriff expects more arrests of his staff before a major jail contraband investigation is complete. And he promoted an interim chief jailer to a permanent position the same day an inmate shot another inmate with a smuggled handgun.

Sheriff Ted Jackson told Channel 2 Action News on Friday that he felt he had no choice but to turn to the FBI for help after finding illegal items, such as marijuana and drugs, in Fulton County jail cells last June. “We knew we had a problem and it was a problem we couldn’t handle,” Jackson said. “There was no one else we could go to.”

Thursday, FBI agents arrested a sheriff’s deputy and three detention officers following a nearly year-long sting to Sheriff’s Office employees facilitating the transfer of contraband into the jail. “We expect other employees to be arrested,” Jackson said. “This is only the beginning.”

The arrests came a week after the shooting incident, but had been in the works since a growing amount of cell phones and marijuana was turning up in periodic cell searches, he said. “It’s hard to conceal that you’re bringing cell phones in,” said Jackson, the former FBI Agent in Charge for Atlanta. “An investigation will show the methods used. The reason I went to the FBI is because I knew it was bigger than just a few employees.”

He didn’t rule out the possibility that rank officers could be implicated by the investigation. But Jackson announced after Thursday’s arrests that increased security measures at the jail would include requirements that employees be searched before entering the jail.

Former chief jailer Charles Felton, reached by phone Friday, questioned the timing of the arrests, and wondered why such procedures — which Jackson has always had the authority to implement — weren’t initiated before a gun was discovered in the jail. “Why are they just making a bust now?” he asked the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m sure they didn’t gather all this information in the past week.”

Felton, who was jail chief from January 2009 to January 2010, said he wouldn’t search every employee, but random searches would put everyone on notice that anyone could be screened at any time. “When you have 130 people coming in on a shift, you can’t search everyone,” he said. “But the purpose of the searches is as a deterrent.”

With violent members of five known gangs active inside the jail, Jackson said it was possible that some of his employees fell under their influence. “They want to have control of the jail the same way the have control of the streets,” he said. “That puts a lot of strain on our employees. Some of our employees become too close, and that is how the contraband is coming in.”

Since January of this year, Jackson admitted that jail officials had found as many as 50 mobile phones inside the jail, a dangerous prospect for those inside and outside the jail when the phones are in the hands of drug dealers or violent criminals. “With cell phones, inmates can do business outside, or communicate with other inmates inside,” he said.

Jackson said he had planned to promote Mark Adger to full-time jail chief the day of the shooting, and stuck to his intentions after the incident. “I was there when it happened,” he said. “I had gone there for that reason. I didn’t see any reason not to do it.”

Felton agreed that if noting in the initial investigation of the shooting or the ongoing FBI investigation indicated that Adger was incapable, there was no reason to let the incident block his promotion. “This is not unusual,” Felton said. Still, Felton said the steps Jackson has taken should send a clear message.

“If you’re going to wear that badge, the message should be clear that no one is going to introduce contraband or illegal drugs into the Fulton County jail,” Felton said.

Source

The post Fulton Finds 50 Mobile Phones In Jail appeared first on meshDETECT® Blog.

This news item highlights the corrosive effects the demand for contraband prison cell phones has on prison guards and other prison employees. Because the demand for illegal cell phones is so high, guards are paid to smuggle the phones into the jails. The demand for contraband prison cell phones would be significantly lessened by the introduction of secure prison cell phones such as those offered by meshDETECT.

A former state correction officer from Avenel pleaded guilty Monday to being a member of a network that smuggled pre-paid cell phones and drugs into Northern State Prison in Newark, Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced.

According to Taylor, Luis S. Roman, 47, pleaded guilty to racketeering and official misconduct before Superior Court Judge Mathias E. Rodriguez in Middlesex County. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Roman be sentenced to 14 years in state prison, including five years of parole ineligibility. The charges stem from Operation Empire, a joint investigation by the New Jersey State Police, the Department of Corrections and the Division of Criminal Justice.

“As he participated in this elaborate smuggling enterprise, Luis Roman demonstrated how much he had in common with the criminal inmates he was supposed to be guarding,” said Dow. “With this plea, he will officially join their ranks.”

“This correction officer shamelessly betrayed his oath and compromised public safety by smuggling cell phones into Northern State prison, where they potentially could have been used by gang leaders to direct criminal activity in our communities,” said Taylor. “We will remain vigilant with the Department of Corrections and State Police to address this threat posed by wireless phones in our prisons.”

“People are put in prison to keep them from threatening public safety. This corrupt correction officer’s actions put everyone at risk by allowing unmonitored cell phone calls from prisoners to potentially control outside crimes. Past examples have shown that this has resulted in “hits” ordered on witnesses and law enforcement personnel,” said Major Matt Wilson, Deputy Superintendent of Investigations for the New Jersey State Police.

Roman and 18 other defendants who allegedly distributed contraband in the prison or acted as accomplices outside the prison were charged with racketeering and conspiracy in a state grand jury indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice on Sept. 15, 2010.

Source

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