Cell Search

Lock Down on Cell Phone Contraband

On October 7, 2008, Texas Sen. John Whitmire returned a missed phone call to someone he thought was a personal friend.

But upon speaking with the caller, he realized it was not a friend but a death row inmate. Richard Tabler, who had been convicted of murder, was contacting him from a cell phone that had been illegally smuggled into the high-security Texas correctional facility.

"In subsequent cell phone conversations, inmate Tabler discussed my two daughters, where they lived and other details that he wanted me to know he knew," explained Whitmire in a July 15, 2009 presentation, titled Contraband Cell Phones in Texas Prisons, Presentation to the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

"Frankly, that scared the hell out of me and convinced me that an inmate having this ability represented a major public safety issue," he continued.

Through a sting operation, officials confiscated Tabler's illegal cell phone and arrested his mother and sister on felony charges of assisting an inmate to obtain a contraband cell phone in prison.

Whitmire's experience is just one example of how cell phone contraband can be dangerous. Recent media coverage has reported the use of cell phones to order the murder of a witness in Maryland and to organize a riot in an Oklahoma prison. Additionally, cell phones have reportedly been used to facilitate drug trafficking, organized crime and orchestrate escapes or other incidents.

"Cell phones have quickly become a growing area of contraband concern for our corrections professionals who are committed to keeping our nation's prisons and communities safe," explains CCA president and CEO Damon Hininger." We need to look no further than the several recent examples of how contraband cell phones have played roles in serious criminal activity."

Reducing the Threat

To aggressively search for and identify cells phones before they enter into the secure confines of a facility, CCA has begun several new measures and enhanced existing ways to increase ways cell phones are identified.

• A new front entry policy – 9-20 Entry Exit Procedures - which identifies positions companywide and with external agencies permitted to have a cell phone in a facility.
  
• All facilities will have front-entry metal detectors and partial scanners, much like you'd see at the airport. Most CCA facilities have the equipment already. The remaining few will have scanners by the end of 2010.
  
• CCA is piloting the use of cell phone detection K-9s at two facilities – Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Miss. and Correctional Treatment Facility in Washington, D.C. – to identify if this practice will be effective in uncovering cell phone contraband.
  
• Additionally, CCA fully supports the Safe Prisons Communications Act, introduced by United States Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. The bill will allow correctional facilities to operate a wireless jamming device with permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
  

"We must provide corrections officers with a comprehensive solution that includes the tools necessary to prevent the use of phones when they evade detection and discovery," explained Sen. Hutchinson in an August 7, 2009 article in the Capitol Comment titled "Cell Phones in Prisons Mean Business as Usual for Convicted Criminals."

"To that end, law enforcement officers, corrections professionals, governors and others working to address this problem have asked Congress and the FCC for authority to use cell phone signal jamming equipment," the senator wrote.

The bill, also supported by the American Correctional Association (ACA) and the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), has passed the Senate and is now in the House awaiting further action. A letter written by Hininger, expressing CCA's strong support for the bill, will soon be sent to a targeted group of House members.

"CCA absolutely supports the Safe Prisons Communications Act," explains Bobby Phillips, CCA director of Security. "Several detection devices are already on the market, but they're expensive and make it difficult to zero in on where a cell phone is located. Jamming the signal is the ultimate goal. Then cell phones become obsolete in the facility and within some distance outside the facility as well."

"I'm 100 percent supportive of cell phone jamming," says Jack Garner, CCA managing director. "My cell phone wouldn't work inside our facilities, but I'd rather go without and know inmates are unable to use cell phones."

CCA is on the leading edge in using K-9s to detect cell phones. Currently, two facilities have cell phone sniffing K9s and others are currently being trained. Cell phones have unique scents that differentiate them from other electronic devices.

"This is a new approach across the nation," says Chuck Mason, CCA K9 commander. "It's been very productive for CCA. When doing a cell search, it takes two employees about 30 minutes, while a K-9 can do it in just minutes."

Serious Crime, Severe Consequences

It's not only dangerous for inmates to have cell phones, it's also illegal.

"In most states where CCA facilities operate, it is a crime to bring a cell phone into a facility with the intention to give it to an inmate," explains Cole Carter, CCA assistant general counsel, Operations. "It is prosecuted harshly in many states."

For example, in Tennessee and Texas, individuals found guilty of smuggling cell phone contraband into a correctional facility will be charged with a felony crime and may be sentenced between two and 10 years in prison.

"When we look at the guiding principles of The CCA Way, the most important principle is integrity," says Phillips. "It tells us we are to do the right thing. That includes knowing CCA's rules and regulations and policies and procedures, including those related to the introduction of contraband."

If at any time employees suspect that an inmate may have a cell phone, they should notify their supervisor immediately.

Sound Out

James Carey at DBCF:

This Proves how crucial through cell searches as well as overall security, my goal every day is to do my part in making sure that all of my fellow staff go home safely every night, we must work together in keeping our facilitys safe and secure

Daniel Mendoza at Eloy Detention Center:

As a Captain in Texas, I ran into this situation many times. It seemed that cell phones were one of the biggest contraband concerns. I have always tried to impress upon my troops how dangerous these cell phones can be and many times are. I am 100% supportive of the "Safe Prisons Communications Act" as proposed by Senator Hutchison. This would help all of our facilities in the ongoing battle to detect and eradicate illegal cell phones and their potential for damage. It is good to know that CCA supports this act as well as the ACA.

Brian Schaefer Jr at N/A:

Very true having a jamming device would help allot more as well as locating the devices in inmates cells or bodily areas. Not sure how CCA operates about officers using the device, but I heard of other departments taking the cell phones before the shift starts for the officer and other places just telling the officer to leave it in the car or in the locker. I know after watching American Jails, it opened my eyes to many ways inmates are now doing things.