Sherri Lydon, US Attorney for South Carolina, has this op-ed in the WSJ, calling for Congress to amend communications law so that state prisons can jam smuggled cell phones, just as federal prisons do. Inmates use the phones to continue running their crime organizations from within prison.
In addition, in my opinion, prison need to do--and need to be allowed to do--a better job of stopping smuggling generally. When I visited San Quentin a few years back, I was appalled to see that you can get into a prison with less sophisticated scanning than you get boarding an airplane. Our guide said they were going to get the advanced scanners, but the prisoner rights lobby squawed so loudly about invading the privacy of the visitors that they had to back off. There should also be a zero tolerance, one-strike rule for both visitors and staff caught smuggling: one offense and you never visit/work there again.
Your info on San Quentin is not quite complete. While visitors go through a standard metal detector (though a very sensitive one) inmates are scanned in millimeter wave scanners after visits, which I assume is the more sophisticated technology you are referring to, after visits. Also, when you visited were you going to have contact with inmates or just on a tour. My experience is the search is much more though for a contact visit and always includes a physical check of belongings as well as the xray machine. It is pretty clear that most of the contraband has to be coming in via staff. If you are worried about a lobby interfering with stopping contraband the prison guards union is the one you should be worried about.
I doubt your "most" assertion, but both paths are problems, and the prison guards union is a concern. Even so, my information was that it was the prisoner lobby that killed the proposal, and I am not aware of any information to the contrary.
It is good to know that they now have the millimeter wave scanners for at least a limited use. Thanks for the update.
The amount of general prison contraband coming in through employees (there are a lot more than officers working at facilities) is probably not most, but is not insignificant either. They probably are the most common source of cell phones though. It’s difficult to get them by even a mere pat frisk and they are too large to fit in an inmate’s anal purse where they carry drugs, even shanks. So, coming in via visits would be rare.
The biggest source of general contraband is almost certainly the package room in most facilities. They are ingenious when it comes to sneaking it in via this method. For example, taking a soup can label off, draining the soup after drilling a hole, filling it back up with booze, soldering the hole, sanding it down, and glue the label back on.
I do agree that stricter standards for visits is warranted but it is a difficult problem. They will even use old women and babies to get drugs in and searching inside a baby’s diaper is obviously problematic. It would take a huge investment but I would suggest drug sniffing dogs at all facilities. It would take a lot because you cannot overwork them but worth the investment. If the dog gives the sign and you do not acquiesce to a search, you do not get in. NY does have a small team of them but they only visit each facility a couple of times per year. You will literally see some people get right back into their car or on the bus when the dogs are there.
Thanks for the inside info. Do you agree with Ms. Lydon about jamming?
Absolutely. Her rationale is spot on too. They contact their “colleagues” on the outside to run drug operations, tell them what witnesses to threaten, etc. Even set up escape attempts by letting outside people know when they are going on medical trips. It may sound like something out of a TV movie but it does happen.
There are a lot of staff members who grew up in the same neighborhoods as the inmates they now watch (because it is a city jail, this is an enormous problem at Rikers) and although they may have entered the profession expecting to be honest, get caught in traps. Do a favor for an old friend such as bring in cigarettes and the inmate then blackmails the officer with the threat of reporting him/her and getting him fired. Before you know it, they are bringing in drugs or cell phones in order to keep the lid on it.
Although an offense that will get you fired in NY, staff sometimes bring phones in for personal use as well. Such a policy would kill two birds with one stone.
It would create an uproar but I would randomly search staff as well. Even if not a thorough search, it would be a deterrent. Officers often bring in large coolers for their shifts, especially those working doubles.