Prison telephone service provider Global Tel Link has agreed to pay for and install technology to block illegal cell phone use by California prisoners, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The company may profit from the move because they also own the pay phones legally used by prisoners. Once the illegal cell phones are disabled, company officials say they expect the demand for pay phones will skyrocket.
More than 15,000 contraband cell phones were confiscated from prisons and conservation camps last year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports.
“This groundbreaking and momentous technology will enable [us] to crack down on the potentially dangerous communications by inmates,” CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, told The Times.
Dana Simas, a public information officer for the CDCR, says the Office of Victim of Survivor Rights and Services has processed “hundreds of claims…in which victims or next of kin have complained about harassment via cell phone use.” Simas acknowledged, however, that the CDCR does not know how much criminal activity has occurred as a result of contraband cell phone use.
Prisoners say cell phones are used to communicate with family and friends outside. Prison calls on pay phones are limited to 15 minutes at a time and are repeatedly interrupted by the operator. Each call, which must be made collect, also costs around two dollars for the recipient.
“The lines of communication between prisoners and family should be as open as possible,” Rebekah Evenson, an attorney for the Prison Law Office in Berkeley, told The Times. Federal prisons allow inmates secure email accounts, and Evenson believes this might be a better way to monitor prisoners’ communications.
— Additional reporting by Lizzie Buchen, San Quentin News adviser
