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| Cell phones continue to turn up |
| By American-Statesman |
| Published: 01/27/2009 |
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TEXAS - More than 200 cell phones have been confiscated in state prison cellblocks since a systemwide shakedown for contraband ended in November. That's almost twice as many as were seized during the Oct. 21 to Nov. 11 lockdown, new statistics show. Eight of the phones were seized from death row, where the shakedown had started after a condemned two-time murderer called and threatened to kill state Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "We've got some hard questions to ask about the zero-tolerance policy they supposedly put into effect," said Whitmire, D-Houston. Prison officials on Monday said the confiscations of 220 cell phones from convicts at Texas' 112 state prisons between Nov. 12 and Jan. 15 show their continuing crackdown is working. "This is an ongoing problem, something that we're continuing to battle, continuing to fight," said Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The issue of smuggled cell phones in Texas prisons promises to provide fuel for intense questioning at a legislative committee hearing today and will add impetus for passage of federal legislation to allow state prison officials to jam cell phone calls as a way to neutralize what they say is becoming a nationwide epidemic. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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