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Cell Phones/Inmate Telephone Issues
Electronic Monitoring
Information Technology
Miscellaneous
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Welcome to the March, 2013 issue of the Corrections Technology Center of Excellence monthly Newsletter. 


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Cell Phones/Inmate Telephone Issues

  

This Fox News report discusses the struggles that the Georgia Department of Corrections continues to have with contraband cell phones.  Approximately 8,000 cell phones were confiscated last year and revenues from prison landlines are down over $2 million over the last two years. The agency indicates that they have taken all the measure they can to stop this contraband from entering facilities and are now exploring managed access technology.  
 
  

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In a related story by the Associated Press a connection is made between the increasing rate of inmate homicides and the prevalence of contraband cell phones.

  

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Managed access systems have been installed in two Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons, the Stiles Unit and the McConnell Unit.  The Star Telegram reports that both systems should be fully operational nest month.  Stiles and McConnell have historically had the greatest challenges of the more than 100 Texas prisons when it comes to cell phone smuggling.

 

  

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In a related story CNN reports that 17 former corrections officers at the McConnell Unit face federal charges of smuggling contraband to inmates.  Among the contraband were cell phones which the U.S. Attorney alleges were by inmates to orchestrate and facilitate killings, home invasions and drug trafficking.  

 


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A follower of Charles Manson was recently arrested for trying to smuggle a cell phone to the cult leader at the Corcoran State Prison in California the Los Angeles Times reports.  Manson had been caught in possession of a cell phone on two previous occasions, once in 2009 and again in 2011.

 

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Contraband cell phones is not an issue that is unique to the United States.  According to The Telegraph the United Kingdom struggles with this problem as well.  Approximately 7,000 phones and SIM cards are confiscated each year.  Authorities are exploring a scheme to install telephones in some cells for inmate use.  Monitored, in-cell telephones, for some inmates, is thought to provide benefits such as increased contact with families and decreased use of contraband cell phones.  A pilot is underway in one facility.

 

  

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According to this report in The Post and Courier, former South Carolina Department of Corrections Captain Robert Johnson is suing cell phone companies in connection with a 2010 attack at his home.  Captain Johnson was shot six times in an inmate ordered hit facilitated by a contraband cell phone.  The lawsuit argues that the cell providers had the ability and a duty to block calls from inside the prison but chose not to do so, instead deciding "to facilitate this illegal activity."

 

 

Electronic Monitoring
 

The February issue of the NIJ Journal provides an overview of a research project examining  the impact that GPS monitoring has on the recidivism rates of sex offenders in California.

 

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This Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism article examines the use of GPS technology to monitor sex offenders in that state.  Offenders and advocate groups report concerns that the technology repeatedly fails and registers false alarms that land offenders in jail.  The Department of Corrections reports that they are not aware of any problems with the technology

 

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This Washington Post articles describes the role of GPS monitoring in the arrest of a suspect in a mass shooting in D.C. in which 13 people were wounded.  The suspect was ordered to wear the GPS monitoring device in December after he was found guilty of a probation violation.  Tracking points show the suspect near the crime scene an hour before the incident, then show him circling the scene and finally show him speeding by at a high rate of speed when the gunshots rang out.

 

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According to this report on ABC News, a New York offender on pretrial detention and monitored with GPS technology was arrested for killing a woman and raping her 10 year old daughter.  The case is drawing national attention because the offender was able to remove his GPS monitor and leave it at home on the night the attack took place.  The performance of the technology as well as the agency protocols for alerts are being scrutinized.

 

   
 
Information Technology  

The United States Government Accountability Office recently released a report highlighting the importance of information sharing with regards to sex offenders travelling internationally.
 
 
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This Daily Mail article illustrates what went wrong when a convicted cyber criminal was allowed to take a computer class in a United Kingdom prison

  
Miscellaneous

Can brain scans predict recidivism?  The Daily Mail reports that a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that convicts showing low activity in an area of the brain associated with decision-making and action are more likely to be arrested again.