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| Texas prisons combat smuggled phones |
| By UPI |
| Published: 06/14/2004 |
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Texas prison officials say cell phones are joining drugs, tobacco and cash among the most prized contraband inside the walls. The Texas Legislature stiffened the penalty for smuggling cell phones last year, but the problem is still growing, the Houston Chronicle reported last Monday. Lt. Terry Cobbs, a spokesman for the prison system's inspector general's office, said inmates are using them to stay in touch with outside criminal activity, not call "their mothers on Mother's Day." Smuggling the cell phones to inmates is now a third-degree felony in Texas, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Fifty prosecutions are pending. Cobbs said one inmate recently flushed a cell phone down his commode and when other prisoners were ordered to search sewer traps for the contraband they pulled up more phones "like they were going fishing." Cell phones are found in random searches but informants also provide tips. One recent tip helped corrections officers find a cell phone and a charger wrapped in plastic and submerged in a large jar of salad dressing. |
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