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| Senate to vote on outlawing prison cell phones |
| By Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer |
| Published: 04/30/2009 |
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Sacramento - -- Cellular phones have become so popular in California's state prisons that inmates are using them to coordinate escapes and, authorities suspect, to orchestrate crimes outside the gates. More than 2,800 cell phones were found on inmates or hidden around the facilities last year, prison officials say, double the number confiscated the year before. In an attempt to curb the problem, the state Senate is expected to pass a law next week that will make it a crime for the nearly 172,000 state prison inmates to possess cell phones or for people to smuggle them into prisons. "Every one of these phones is a threat to everyone - officers, prisoners and the general public," said Sen. John Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes (Riverside County), who introduced the bill to outlaw unauthorized cell phones in the state's 94 prisons and other facilities. Such actions are now punishable by administrative penalties. If caught, inmates face the loss of 30 days of credit for good behavior. More than half the phones in prisons come from staff at the facilities - including guards, cooks, health care workers and others who sell them for between $100 and $400 apiece, state officials say. Others are concealed in food containers and packages sent to inmates, while still others are hidden at work sites where minimum-security prisoners can retrieve them, authorities say. At least two inmates have used cell phones to coordinate their getaway after escaping, said Richard Subia, associate director for the division of adult institutions in the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "It's lucrative for staff with very little issue at the end if caught," Subia said. "That's where the legislation becomes important." Officials are concerned that inmates, whose conversations on prison phones are monitored, could coordinate crimes outside of prison and possibly even riots inside prison via cell phones. If the measure becomes law, inmates caught with the phones would face misdemeanor penalties, with stiffer penalties and loss of more privileges. The charges would appear on evaluations before parole boards. Employees caught bringing in phones have faced no punishments so far, leaving as a result of retirement or resignations, Subia said. Prison visitors face suspension or exclusion from visiting the facility. Under the proposed law, both groups would face misdemeanor criminal penalties, with fines of up to $5,000. The measure has no opposition in the Legislature or from prisoner advocacy groups. One advocate called it a "non-issue," while the American Civil Liberties Union has taken no position on the bill. The measure still needs the approval of the Assembly and the governor. Benoit said he would rather punish scofflaws with a felony, but legislative leaders are not backing bills creating new felonies because of prison overcrowding. One inmate at a state prison in the Central Valley, reached via his cell phone Wednesday, said mobile phones make it easier and cheaper for inmates to talk with their families. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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