Smuggled phones a worry at Monroe prison

Published 11:09 pm Sunday, October 26, 2008

MONROE — It’s an incident that highlights a growing problem at prisons across the country: A Monroe inmate attempted to bribe a correctional officer to smuggle in a cell phone, and the officer agreed.

Somehow, prison officials discovered the plot before the cell phone was delivered. They confronted the officer, who ended up resigning from the job.

The plot, foiled about two months ago, showcases a new, growing challenge for prison officials nationwide: preventing inmates from smuggling in cell phones as the devices become smaller and smaller.

Cell phones have yet to cause major security issues at the Monroe prison complex, the state’s largest with about 2,400 inmates, Superintendent Scott Frakes said. But sometimes, cell phones slip through metal detectors and reach inmates.

“We feel pretty good at this point,” Frakes said, adding there have only been a couple of incidents where cell phones were confiscated from inmates.

Cell phones already are causing serious problems at lockups in some states. Illegal cell phone use is blamed for some prison escapes. An inmate with a cell phone can also plan illegal activities by calling people from inside the prison walls.

Officials are cracking down on corrupt guards and improving security behind the bars.

In Washington, state officials are considering imposing tough penalties on those who smuggle in cell phones.

“It’s something we take very seriously,” said Chad Lewis, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

Officials monitor phone conversations inmates have in Washington prisons, but they can’t do so for cell phone talks, making it easier for offenders to coordinate crimes, Lewis said.

At each of the state’s 15 prisons, a few cell phones have been taken away from inmates over the last several years, Lewis said. The state bans inmates from having cell phones.

“We don’t have a lot of cases to go by,” Lewis said. “We don’t know a lot of examples to examine.”

Cell phones started being smuggled in around 2000, as they became smaller and more convenient, said Frakes, who has worked at five state prisons for 26 years.

In addition to traditional cell searches, officials use tips from inmates to detect and confiscate cell phones, Frakes said. Police dogs based at the prison in Monroe recently finished training to sniff out lithium batteries in cell phones.

Sometimes inmates goof up, Frakes said. They often forget they talk loudly on cell phones.

“We depend on our staff to listen,” he said. “Why are offenders talking to themselves?”

Other states are taking more aggressive steps to deal with cell phone smuggling.

South Carolina wants to jam cell phone signals in prisons to prevent convicts from committing additional crimes, the Associated Press reported. But such a move could be against the federal Communications Act, which prevents states from using jammers or otherwise interfering with federal airwaves.

In South Carolina, authorities blame illegal cell phones for most of the state’s prison escapes. In one 2005 case, cell phones were found on two inmates who escaped a maximum security prison in Columbia by hiding in a trash truck.

In Texas, prison officials recently arrested the mother of a death row inmate on charges she paid for minutes on a cell phone that had been smuggled to her condemned son. The inmate shared the phone with nine other inmates and called a state senator to say he knew the lawmaker’s daughters’ names, authorities said.

In Washington, cell phones have yet to become an urgent issue to tackle, Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, said. Pearson is a member of the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee, which deals with prison issues.

“It’s already illegal,” Pearson said.

Corrections officials have considered jamming cell phone signals. But the state may not be able to afford that option as it’s facing a budget deficit next year due to the slow national economy, Frakes said.

On the other hand, prison officials rely on cell phones to communicate among themselves. They are good tools to keep the Monroe correctional officers safe, Frakes said. About 1,200 people work on the 365-acre complex.

Cell phone signals are “more secure than radio,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.