Illegal prison cellphones being disabled in Calif
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A private company that owns the pay phones in
California's prisons will pay millions of dollars to install technology
that prevents inmates from using smuggled cell phones to make their
calls instead.
The deal with Global Tel Link addresses the
growing problem of cell phones within the nation's largest prison
system, where the technology has been used by inmates to run criminal
enterprises, intimidate witnesses and organize attacks on guards.
The move also comes at no cost to taxpayers
because the private firm expects to see demand for its pay phones soar,
Dana Simas, a spokeswoman from the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, said Tuesday.
"There are pay phones available on the yards,
but if you were to go to them now, there's no one using them," she said.
"They're empty and a couple of years ago there were lines hours long."
Beverly Schumock, an administration manager at
Global Tel Link, referred questions to a company e-mail address for
media inquiries. No one replied to an e-mail sent Tuesday by The
Associated Press.
Global Tel expects to have the blocking
technology running at the California State Prison in Solano by the end
of the year and at all prisons within three years.
The state won't share in the profits Global Tel
makes from the collect calls, but the company will pay an estimated $1
million for implementation and installation at each of the state's 33
prisons.
Global Tel will also pay an $800,000 annual fee
to the California Technology Agency for the contract, and the agency
will make sure the Mobile, Ala.-based firm doesn't hike calling rates,
according to the contract.
The deal will mean slightly lower rates for
collect calls than prisoners currently pay. A 15-minute local call will
cost $1.50, while a 15-minute in-state, long-distance call will cost
about $2, a decrease of a penny a minute. A 15-minute interstate call
will cost $6.60, a decrease of nearly 22 cents a minute.
Last year, California prison guards confiscated
nearly 11,000 contraband phones, a sharp increase from 2007 when only
1,400 were found. Even Charles Manson, arguably the state's most
notorious inmate, has twice been caught with contraband phones.
Prison officials in some instances have deployed cell phone-sniffing dogs to search for the devices.
New legislation last year made it a misdemeanor to smuggle a cell phone into a prison, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000.
"This groundbreaking and momentous technology
will enable (the prison system) to crack down on the potentially
dangerous communications by inmates," Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation Secretary Matthew Cate said in a statement.
Under the new plan, each prison will get its
own cell tower that can be controlled by prison officials. Approved
phones will be able to send and receive signals, but contraband phones
will be useless under the company's cellular umbrella. The deal marks
the first time the technology will be used for a state's entire prison
system.
Last year, during an 11-day test at two
California institutions, the new technology detected 2,593 different
wireless devices and blocked more than 25,000 attempts to make calls,
send texts and e-mails, and log onto the Internet with a smart phone,
according to prison officials.
Prison watchdog groups, however, are critical
of the deal between the state and Global Tel Link, saying it gives the
private company a monopoly on the collect calls inmates rely on to stay
in touch with family. Inmate families are concerned that with cell
phone-blocking technology, Global Tel will raise rates.
"If your mother was in prison, would you refuse
a collect call? Would you refuse to talk to her? They know that those
relationships are going to exist between human beings and they are going
to exploit that and the state is willingly allowing the exploitation,"
said Dorsey Nunn, executive director of Legal Services for Prisoners
with Children.
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