Prison officials throughout the country are battling the smuggling of cell phones to inmates. The phones are not just being smuggled by wives, friends, or family - they are often being smuggled by prison employees, including guards, cooks, and clerical workers.
With the smuggled cell phones, prison inmates are able to maintain control of criminal enterprises as well as conduct criminal activities within the prison, such as drug dealing or planning escape attempts.
Why Do Prison Guards and Other Employees Smuggle Cell Phones for Inmates?
The answer is simple: Smuggling cell phones to inmates can be very lucrative for guards and other prison employees. In times when money is tight for everyone, prison employees in need of extra income may be especially susceptible to bribery or offers from inmates.
According to Richard Subia, California's deputy director of adult prisons, a prison employee could earn $500 or more for each cell phone they smuggle to an inmate. In fact, one California guard disciplined for smuggling phones in 2009 admitted to making $100,000 in one 12-month period.
Several states have reported problems with large numbers of cell phones making their way into prisons. In Texas, almost 250 prison employees have faced discipline in connection with supplying or brokering cell phones for inmates since 2007. On top of that, 45 employees have actually been charged criminally for their actions.
In California, the level of cell phone smuggling seems to be especially high. Last year alone, 300 prison employees faced disciplinary actions for trafficking in cell phones. The number of actual cell phones found and confiscated in California prisons last year totaled 6,995, nearly 250% more than confiscated a year earlier.
In New Jersey, state prosecutors recently charged a prison employee that had been working as a cook, as well as 39 other individuals, in a plot to smuggle both phones and drugs into prisons. Officials there characterized the smuggling of cell phones into prisons as an "epidemic."
What Authorities Are Doing to Prevent Cell Phone Smuggling
One of the realities of prison life is that inmates will find ways of smuggling contraband into prison.
In South Carolina, metal detectors have been installed at all prison entrances in efforts to deter employees from bringing in cell phones. Authorities there say the measure has been effective, but cell phones continue to make it to inmates.
One strategy authorities are considering is the use of cell phone jamming technology within a prison. This type of technology is somewhat controversial because the Federal Communications Commission generally prohibits the use of cell phone jammers, but the New Jersey Prisons Commissioner recently urged Congress to pass a law allowing the use of this technology in prisons.
