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A previous entry to this blog focused upon the presence of illicit cell phones in prisons. In the entry, it was explained how illicit cell phones remain a major problem inside New Jersey’s prisons, as inmates use the devices to secretly communicate with each other, intimidate witnesses and direct drug deals and other illegal activity.

On September 16, 2009, the Trentonian reported that New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram is now utilizing sniffing dogs and orifice scanners to address the problem. Recently, twenty-five convicts from five different gangs and 10 other New Jersey prison inmates have been indicted for possession of cell phones.

Attorney General Milgram announced the indictments at a press conference in which police dogs demonstrated their ability to sniff out hidden phones and authorities unveiled a new cell detection device called the BOSS, for “Bodily Orifice Security Scanner.” The BOSS is a device for looking into a body like and x-ray machine or airport surveillance equipment that can see hidden items. The scanner is within a chair that inmates sit in to be checked for contraband.

Prison officers and others in New Jersey are concerned that the gangs which overpopulate state prisons are trying to run the prisons at the same time they try to call the shots for other gang members still on the outside. “Safety and security both inside and outside the prison walls are paramount to our mission,” said New Jersey Department of Corrections Commissioner George W. Hayman. “Illegal cell phones potentially provide the offender population with an opportunity to compromise public safety. This cannot and will not be allowed to happen, and we will continue to utilize aggressive, proactive measures in our efforts to protect law-abiding citizens.”

Attorney General Milgram stated that between August 2008 and July 2009, New Jersey Corrections Officers seized 391 cell phones from inmates. She also noted that the gang population in New Jersey prisons keeps escalating because of all the recent arrests of gang members, almost 2,000 in the last 13 months.

To read the article in its entirety, please click on the following link.

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As reported by the Asbury Park Press on August 24, 2009, Keith Trimmer, 41, a senior corrections officer at Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility, has been charged with bringing an imitation hand grenade into the facility on May 13, 2009, creating a disturbance, according to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office.

Other correction officers saw the device, prompting a response from the Department of Corrections’ Special Operations Group. The Special Operations Group provides tactical and technical support during a crisis. 

The incident was investigated by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office, Major Crimes Unit and the Department of Corrections, and the Special Investigations Division of Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility. As a result, Officer Trimmer has been suspended without pay since May 15, 2009.

To read the article in its entirety, please click on the following link.

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As reported in the Trentonian on August 24, 2009, illicit cell phones remain a major problem inside New Jersey’s prisons, as inmates use the devices to secretly communicate with each other, intimidate witnesses and direct drug deals and other illegal activity. As a result, one New Jersey lawmaker is proposing to give corrections officials more tools to deal with the problem. 

Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, Jr. recently proposed legislation calling on the State to seek proposals for installing and operating a wireless communications device detection system. Another measure calls for blocking the transmission and reception of cell phone equipment carrying voice, text messages, images and other data within correctional facilities.  No hearings have been scheduled yet on either measure.

Officials would have to ensure that the latter technology would not interfere with emergency or public safety communications and that it operates at the lowest possible transmission level necessary, nor interfere with cell phone signals that originate and end outside the state’s correctional facilities. 

Nearly 400 cell phones have been seized in correctional facilities since August 2008, when officials started keeping track of confiscations, according to State data. More than a third were found in Northern State Prison in Newark, which houses the State’s most dangerous gang members, and four associated halfway houses. Officials say the smuggling problem has worsened in recent years as cell phone technology has improved. They note that newer, smaller phones are made with less metal, making them harder to detect. 

“Incarceration should be a time for reflection and rehabilitation, not for continuing criminal enterprises or intimidating witnesses,” Diegnan said. “We should take advantage of the technology we have to ensure offenders aren’t simply moving the bases of their operations behind bars thanks to cell phones.”

New Jersey, though, is not the only state dealing with a phone smuggling problem. About 3,500 phones have been found in California institutions this year, which is more than the entire total seized in 2008. In Texas, officers have found more than 900 phones so far, compared with 1,200 for all of last year.

“Illegal cell phone use by prisoners has become a leading worry throughout the country and has played a leading role in the expansion of gangs both behind bars and on our streets,” said Diegnan. “While we’ve taken aggressive steps here in New Jersey to combat it, these bills would simply boost our efforts and enhance public safety.”

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