Word: prison
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...problem has quickly gotten out of control nationwide," says Republican Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas, who in January introduced a House bill that would permit the jamming of cell-phone signals within prison walls. "Criminals are using cell phones even from death row to threaten victims and harass lawmakers. Inmates are making literally thousands of calls from prison...
...Texas, prison officials seized 549 cell phones from inmates in the first four months of this year alone. In California, a prison staff member admitted to earning more than $100,000 last year by selling cell phones to inmates. Prisons in Maryland, Virginia, California and Pennsylvania are using specially trained dogs to sniff out phones hidden inside cells and squirreled away in common areas. Florida and Maryland have instituted tougher penalties for anyone who provides a cell phone to an inmate, and other states are planning to follow suit...
...Inmates sometimes use cell phones to keep in touch with friends and family on the outside - collect calls made from inside prison facilities are notoriously expensive. But officials say inevitably cell phones are also being used to orchestrate crimes, harass witnesses, organize retaliation against other inmates and even order hits. A Baltimore man is accused of using a cell phone from prison to order an accomplice to murder a witness. (In March, the accused man's cell was raided and guards found another phone...
...Intelligence and Information Warfare division is currently hawking a system called Cell Hound that detects all active cell phones within a prison facility and then displays the location on a computer monitor. The monitoring device can also be used to gather intelligence on other illegal activity among inmates. Last month, a Maryland investigation that included wiretaps on prison cell phones resulted in drug and weapons charges for two dozen people, including four state prison officers...
...many prison officials believe the only surefire way to combat the problem is to jam cell-phone signals within prison walls. Yet any jammer for the slammer would run afoul of the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits intentional interference with radio signals. Brady's proposed bill (and a companion bill in the Senate) would amend the act to permit targeted interference of mobile-phone service within prisons, while ensuring that emergency calls or other commercial signals near the prison aren't affected. Brady says he hopes Congress will pass the bill by the end of the year...