The Justice Department has released a report outlining a new initiative to prevent criminal activities in prisons: a successful trial of a signal jammers that effectively blocked mobile signals from contraband phones within a Maryland correctional facility.
The word spread swiftly among the prison population. For Brian Sterling, the director of the South Carolina Department of Prisons, this news reinforced his belief that jamming technology is the most effective and economical approach to halting the influx of mobile devices into correctional facilities.
A cell phone jammers is a small, low-cost device that transmits a continuous tone to an antenna, thereby blocking any mobile phone from making or receiving calls. Typically, these jamming devices are inexpensive, with many options accessible online, ranging in price from $119 to $650.
Officials in the prison system have long been aware that inmates often find innovative ways to smuggle phones into their facilities. In South Carolina, Sterling mentioned that couriers would walk through wooded areas, throwing backpacks filled with contraband over the prison walls; additionally, drones would fly over the prison yards, dropping phones into the hands of inmates when guards were not on duty.
It is crucial for us to obtain all the means required to combat this issue.
Sterling has put in place 50-foot nets surrounding his facility, cleared trees to prevent drones from escaping after being dropped, installed advanced metal detection systems, and has worked alongside the Justice Department in several prosecutions of employees for the smuggling of cell phones.
In our phone discussion, Sterling emphasized, "This is indeed a war. We must ensure we have all the resources at our disposal to fight this battle."
Sterling's moment of clarity was brought about by the shooting of a correctional officer. On March 5, 2010, Captain Robert Johnson was at his home in Sumter, South Carolina, when a gunman entered and shot him six times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. The assailant, Robert Odell Brown, 33, had been killed in February during an inmate altercation at the Lee County
The attack was executed by the Lee County Correctional Facility through the use of a cell phone. Since that time, Sterling has been engaged in efforts to integrate jammers into correctional facilities.
Another option to consider instead of jamming is the use of small box antennas, which are economical, costing approximately $400, and can cover a block with about 10 units. The boxes must be interconnected; however, once the system is operational, all phones will automatically connect to these antennas, preventing signals from leaving the enclosed yard. Levitan explained that this approach can block calls without the aggressive force of jamming technology, provided that the facility actively monitors the equipment.
The analysis shows that the operating costs for both controlled access systems and jamming are minimal, with controlled access being a more adaptable tool for blocking cell phone signals. The study highlights that correctional facilities would require a precision-based jamming system, which entails greater financial investment.