contraband cellphones

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) continues to struggle in its effort to stop the introduction of contraband inside its 35 prisons.

In a recently released Notice of Change to Regulations (NCR 20-01), the Department’s Regulation and Policy Management Branch stated, “Current strategies have been effective overall,” but CDCR still expects that it will expand its search methods.

“ION scanners and low-dose, full-body x-ray scanners as supplemental inmate search options will increase the Department’s ability to discover illegal drugs and contraband that are being introduced into and throughout the institutions,” the NCR’s Initial Statement of Reasons stated.

The CDCR is proposing to amend the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Section 3287, which governs inspection of property and inmate body searches. It will include ION scanners as search options, according to the NCR.

The NCR stated that the existence and use of contraband inside the state prison system causes death, damages rehabilitation efforts, and facilitates criminal activity within the institutions and the community.

“Without the use of the many layers of interdiction devices and strategies available, inmates will continue to die from drug overdoses,” the NCR said, adding, “Staff and visitors will continue to be compromised by being pressured by inmates to smuggle illegal drugs and contraband into the institutions.”

To underscore its point about contraband, deaths and prosecutions for these crimes, the CDCR released some of its most recent numbers on its findings below:

Type of Contraband Discovered 2017 2018

Cellular Telephones 13,195 phones 11,715 Phs

Heroin 28.83 pounds 30. 8 pounds

Marijuana 91.77 pounds 131.9 pounds

Methamphetamines 43.55 pounds 44.22 pounds

Tobacco 635.8 pounds 527.9 pounds

Data obtained from CDCR’s Office of Research.

Year Overdoses Resulting In Death

2016 28

2017 39

2018 61

Total 128

Data obtained from California Correctional Health Care Services, Medical Services Division.

Number of People Prosecuted for Attempting to Introduce Drugs, Alcohol, or Contraband

Fiscal Year Staff Visitors Non-Visitors Totals

2014-15 6 211 51 268

2015-16 7 224 51 282

2016-17 9 221 32 262

2017-18 4 269 57 330

Totals 26 925 191 1142

Data obtained from CDCR’s Office of Research.

The importing, trafficking and use of illegal drugs and contraband pose many problems in an institution setting, including an increase in inmate violence, power struggles within the inmate population, the establishment of an underground economy, staff corruption, and inmate death due to overdose.

Webcam

The use of contraband cellphones by inmates in prison shows an increase in crime and violence across the country, according to a press release in Digital Journal.

Because of the alleged increase in crime, Securus Technologies is selling its Wireless Containment Solution (WCS) for operation inside of jails and prisons around the nation, the Journal reported. The private cellphone network operates inside jails and prisons to specifically stop unauthorized communication from contraband cellphones.

“Half of the state’s foster-care population is made up of children with opioid-addicted parents,” reports Bloomberg according to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican. BUSINESSWEEK.com Oct. 9, 2017

“This controlled network denies all unauthorized cellphones access to any commercial mobile network, giving corrections agencies’ administration and security staff control over potential crimes and violence conducted by, and sometimes on, their inmates and others,” it was reported.

According to the Journal, the WCS Securus system has capabilities unmatched throughout the nation that were not thought possible.

“Securus (phone and video conferencing for prisons) will oversee 2.4 million video calls this year (2017), two-thirds of them remote, i.e., paid. Rates vary by jail (most are county jails), from $5 to $12.99 for a 20-minute call and, in at least one jail, $40 for 40 minutes,” said Securus Chief Executive Officer Richard Smith to Bloomberg. BUSINESSWEEK.com Oct. 9, 2017 Securus now controls about a third of the video market.

“It is the only available solution that is greatly enhancing the safety of correctional officers and the public by effectively controlling and managing contraband cellphones used illegally by inmates,” the Journal reported.

Last year and earlier this year, Securus announced it was investing over $40 million in its WCS system to “eradicate contraband cellphones from the nation’s correctional facilities.” It was reported that it uses state-of-the-art technology and software-defined radio technology that strongly controls radio frequency distribution.

“Securus and its valued partner Vanu, Inc. deployed its Spectrum shield cellular suppression technology,” the Journal reported.

“Vanu has been committed to making a difference in developing a solution to prevent and to manage illicit cellphone use in correctional facilities,” said Andrew Beard, Vanu’s CEO.

Securus Technology is a Texas-based company that serves more than 3,500 correctional facilities and law enforcement agencies. More than 1.2 million inmates in the United States use the Securus inmate-calling phone service.

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