SNIKT

Better than that is why in hell do prisoners have access to computers or any other kind of technology more sophisticated than toilet paper?

DId no one read the article?? They are getting on FB etc. with smuggled in phones.

Did you read the article? It clearly states they used smart phones smuggled in. When the smart phones are found they're punished in the only available way they can be and that is not enough of a deterrent. They should make it a criminal offense if you're in state prison and you're caught with a smart phone automatic 2 additional years plus elimination of any early out credit.

So since MY privacy has been scaled down and become very much limited if I want to fly, then the privacy of inmates and their visitors should be non-existent!! Put the scanners in every prison and jail and start treating them like the criminals that they are. I'd be more than happy to pay taxes for that.

Because degenerates like the ACLU demand it. You can blame them and the other liberals. May they all become victims of a violent crime. Then maybe they won't be so worried about inmate rights.

Excuse me for stating the obvious, but with the cell phone comes an account, with names, addresses for paying the bill. One way to prevent this abuse is the sent the buyers of the phones to prison. I do realize that these phones are most likley stolen, but for use beyond a few days or hours (since most people miss their phones within minutes of losing it and have it cut off with in 24-48 hours) someone must be setting up an account for its use. Who is that person? I order to get an account names, address for a bill etc.... have to be set up. Why are the police not using the confiscated phones and the phone companies to catch the phone smugglers. Must not be a big priority.

Just goes to show you that most high schools are more like prisons than actual prisons. You have to login to a computer only during certain times of day, certain websites are blocked and there is a cell signal blocker around the campus so you can't use a phone for anything. Not calling. Not data transfer. NOTHING.

It is total bull that these people cannot be traced or stopped. Security cameras, body searches (full-on TSA style!), Computer forensics are all methods that can be used. So the statement in the article shouldn't have been "it's difficult" - it's more like "it's expensive". You know what? So is cable TV for prisoners! Why don't we cut those comforts that hard working, law abiding people can't afford and use the savings to protect those victims???

But on a side note I have to ask: If you are a witness who is targeted by the guy you snitched on, why are you on Facebook in the first place? If you are worried about people seeing what your children or grandkids look like, why is your facebook page public? Not trying to blame the victims and witnesses here, but if keeping a low profile was difficult before the age of social networking it's pretty safe to assume it will be impossible nowadays!

they have access to the net so that they can take online college courses.

as we know, uneducated people go in and come out with law degree's funded by the tax payers.

Internet access can be set-up or blocked on a site by site basis or by broad strokes. There is no reason inmates should have access to any type of social networking sites or to be able to access another computer on the outside with access to them.

Actually that is not true. A law was passed in the late 1990s that do not alow a prison inmate to take courses anymore.

Inmates obtain access through smuggled cell phones, or through calls to outside members of gangs or the like.

The cell phones are very difficult to detect. You, the general public have voted against blocking cell phone transmissions in the general interest in public rights. So we alow this behavior to continue.

We vote against stiffer penalties in the voice of human rights. But what you get is the type of behavior exampled in this article.

Heaven forbid that we would start with blocking cell phones in prison, what next? Perhaps blocking someone from using it in their car? Or heaven forbid in school?

You have let gang mentality to seep into society by not snitching. This person was married to a ganger so let her reap what she chose.

azshaara--read the article again. This is happening in every state. It's not that they are given computers in prison libraries and getting to facebook from there. Smartphones with internet access are smuggled in to prisons, and prisoners use them for internet access. State or federal pen, it doesn't matter. The same technology that you and I love for making a tiny phone with lots of features alsor results in the phones being easier than ever to smuggle.

@shopperben

wish my kids would have thought of that ...would saved me a ton of money in tuition

They don't have internet access, at least not through the prison. They are doing it through smuggled phones. WOW! I feel like nobody reads these articles.

Disteph...............although I would agree that she chose a man that was a "bad boy", that in NO WAY makes her or her child disposable.

If we were all punished for our bad choices this world would be an awfully small place. (not saying some of these asshats like the ones in prison or should be in prison that committed crimes to stay for the rest of their lives shouldn't be "off'd" but this lady and her kid made a mistake.)

She has not been arrested or killed, speaks volumes of her going "clean". That warrents compassion for human kind.

I am sure ALL of us have made mistakes that were not good ones, but to be thrown out for a lifetime for one bad choice.... I don't think so.

How the hell are the smuggled phones getting past metal detectors? Don't the prison guards scan everyone and everything that comes into the prison? If a phone can get through, then why not a handgun?

Inmates do not have access to internet. When they do this they breaking the law AGAIN!!!! Yet, the system doesn't punish them harsh enough to make a difference. 30 days lost priviliges or harrassing victim or witnesses into not testifying???? They can lose those activities and survive standing on their head. 30 days is nothing. It should be another charge with a 1 year or more tacted on. Make it count.

@ Robert 1680722 --The prison guards are most likely helping to bring the phones in. Just like the drugs, tobbacco, and other contraband. They can make a hell of a lot more money being dishonest, than they ever can being honest working inside the prison system. Sad, but true.

If I was being harassed by any piss ant from prison or otherwise,I'd get trained in firearms use and become less afraid.If this lady wanted someone's protection,I'm sure good people would be more than happy to help her.Nobody has to be a victum if they are smart.

@live&letlive>, well that's an easy fix. Just start randomly searching the guards as well and offer substantial rewards for guards to turn in illicit activity by other guards. I know it shouldn't have to come to that but the problem would certainly be solved if that policy were in place.

Amen shopperben. I wish people would wake up and get some brains. Facebook is nothing but trouble...exactly why I don't use it or any other social network. My buiness is mine and nobody needs to be in it. QUIT telling all your business.

amen squared!..why not tell them where you go, what you do, who you hang out with... kinda like providing big brother with a comprehensive dossier on your life, choices, hangouts etc... as if they were not intrusive enough. i know, i know,,tin foil hat...whatever....tell them and your boss all about whatever you want... i choose to remain anonymous... for some weird reason i don't think people care if I am going to walmart today.... or that i got a new dog... lol.. the people that might know already cuz I told them face to face...imagine that concept... we all want to be mini celebs it seems.... which is a whole new and separate rant.. :)

I love you Texans.....!

get that gun girl !

see how close he comes then ...

Dont have to live in Texas to have a gun, I live in the Peoples Republic of California and I LOVE MY 9MM, as much as my daughter loves her .45!

and take shooting lessons...I can pick a leaf off a tree, mine threatened, but he never came after me. I also took martial arts, and can kill with my hands and any variety of weapons, including a common ink pen...get busy learning to protect yourself and your child.

Yes, I am from Texas too!

If I were her, I would post my picture with my gun pointed right at him...and give him my address with an invite to please come over for dinner!

What kind of people love their guns & brag about the fact that they can take a life easily? I would guess violent criminals & serial killers, not grandmothers. I understand that it can be necessary on rare occasions that an average person may have no choice but to take a life, especially to save one, but it should not be something that makes anybody joyous. Ask any normal policeman or soldier how happy they are after killing someone. I would feel safer if I owned a gun but it makes me sad that I feel that way a lot more than killing would make me happy.

a law that doesn't exist...

The law isn't allowing it. Internet enabled smartphones are being smuggled in to the prisons.

a woman can sneak it in a lot easier than a guy....either way its GOTTA HURT LIKE A MF'er

Seriously people you HAVE TO READ the article before commenting! There is no law allowing inmates to contact their victims...they are doing it on internet connected smartphones that are being ILLEGALY smuggled into the prisons. (I can't believe how many people do not read the posts before ranting.)

hehehe... Stevo......
It took me a moment thinking when I read it, how can they smuggle the phones in.. and then it dawned on me... duh......

I would agree for a women way easier, but I still cant figure out how they "give" it to the inmate... hehehee...

I think this whole thing is a joke anyway.... I already know clean rule abiding people that WANT to go to jail but are terrified to actually commit a crime... from where I am looking it cant be all that bad perks are:

3 meals a day
Roof over my head
Health Insurance
Clearly I would have a phone!
Sex anytime I want it
Gym membership
warm shower
someone doing my laundry everyday!!

Am I missing anything????

You forgot free legal advice and free lawyers

that I did!! lol

They are sending the friend requests... those don't have anything to do with the privacy settings. It's like driving by and honking the horn - you aren't close enough to violating the court order, just letting them know they are there and that they know where you are.

You can go into settings and change it so that no one can find you when searching. That is how mine is set. If I want to be friends with someone, I will send them a request, with their permission.

NOT true! debnran Friend requests have everything to do with Privacy settings!! Read the Help! It's listed under Privacy, How you connect! Perfect example of why illiterate people should not have facebook accounts!

I agree. Add a year each time a cell phone is found, or maybe 5 years. If a non-inmate is caught smuggling them in, then give them 10 years just for doing it. But the best way to stop it is to block the stupid signal. If they can't get a signal inside the walls, then they are pretty much useless.

IMHO, all these inmate "rights" things are dumb. If you want rights, stay the heck out of jail. If you're in jail, you need to be punished. No big screen color tv, no music, no dances, no videos, maybe a movie if they are behaved. If you do the crime, do the time - but no bennies on my dollar.

The offenders ARE given a 6 month sentence themselves according to the ARTICLE.

These criminals do not think its that big of a deal to be in prison. 30 days does not matter to somone that does not care. Its like sending a kid to his room where he has tv, nintendo, a telephone, three hots and a cot.

Love it debnran....... yeah love the part where they are starving themselves. I say.. GO! Go starve yourself.....that money that our tax paying dollars are spent feeding you can go to your kid, at home starving!!! Those locked up should have NO "RIGHTS".

you would probably be wrong. All it takes is for one guy to know how to do it, and it becomes his "business" and he will make money breaking out of a firewall. They need to just block access to phone signals within the prison grounds. That's the only thing that will stop it. We need to be harder on criminals, not softer. Make them want to stay out of prison. No more whiney baby "we have it too tough in here." You blew your rights when you did your crime. Live with it. Then tell your homies to say the heck out of jail if they don't want to end up like you. BTW cell phones don't use routers.

They should ask Walmart or Sams club I never get a signal there!!!

Read the article ALL the way through and you would know what happens to the ones that smuggle them in.

it's not facebook that's the problem, but the prison system. If they can't prevent cell phones from being brought it, then they need to prevent them from being used. Block the signal inside the prison. If they can't use them, they also can't access facebook. If they are still able to access facebook after the signal is blocked then someone is aiding them. And THAT is addressed by the new laws.

NOPE...(Dave in Dallas post #6 )says she should get a gun....I agree with him 100%...if he bothers her...which he will, then he's gone for good !!! Not everyone on this planet has a right to breathe !!!

it costs about $32k a year to house a prisoner....no thanks ! he can keep his phone !

This isn't a political issue. Spell check may come in handy as well. :) Why are you an EX? just wondering. Were you doing something shady?

It's not a spelling-bee either...

I was in a car accident and am partially paralized. Sorry for the spelling errors, but why don't you get your head out of the dictionary and look around once in awhile. And as for it not being a political issue. Again, get your head out of your a*s....ooppps, well you get the picture.

I'm a current correctional officer and what you say about the liberals is true. They get a degree and think they know more than someone with 10 years of expierience. They view the offender as a victim of society which is a bunch of BS. They come in as counselors and get promoted to the higher ranks without knowing how it really works living in their fantasy world of how everyone is a victim of society.

I agree. Thats why CA, which has the highest number of inmates, is so screwed up. I remember inmates suing the system because they got a broken cookie. Or, their toilet paper roll was not complete. And when we tried to get the system to make them pay for the frivolus lawsuits (if they lost), the liberals said no, that it was their right to sue. Thats why the courts are so messed up, too.

And don't post personal info. I have fun staying in contact with friends who don't live by me. But I have no personal info on there.

FYI (and why is no one able to read this story for detail?), the story says that's 12K phones in the entire California prison system. According to google, that's 33 prisons holding approx 170000 prisoners. Dividing the number of phones by the number of prisons, you get about 363 phones per prison, or about one phone per prison per day. Of course, it probably doesn't work like that, as some prisons are larger than others, etc.

Dividing it by the number of prisoners you get about 1 phone for every 14 prisoners, which is more alarming. Especially considering that that just accounts for FOUND phones. I'm unsure what the unfound contraband multiplier is in this instance, but even if for every 2 phones they find, they miss one, we're looking at nearly 18000 phones in the california penal system.

Go back and read the article again (maybe slower this time)

they r working on a law its the cell phone law my dads law thats the whole reason this law passed cause i helped push this !!!!

Interesting thought, but there are actually a couple of impediments to it. The first is legal. Jamming of signals of any kind is prohibited under federal law with only limited exceptions, and currently prisons do not have an exception.

The other impediment is technical, but is the basis for the legal impediment. Contrary to what you see in movies and TV, jamming cell signals in a tightly defined area is, in a practical sense, impossible. Jamming operates in the same broadcasting does. You simply broadcast "white noise" across a band with such intensity that structured communication signals cannot be discerned by receivers. The intensity of this broadcast determines the effective range of the jamming, but cannot be precisely dialed in.

Think of it like listening to the radio as you drive a long distance. Sure, it's clear when you start, but it doesn't cut out slowly. It fades out, gets more static-y, clears up for a moment, then fades out till finally you're frustrated enough to look for a new station. A jamming signal emanating from a prison would create the same kind of effect in the surrounding community. You would likely end up with a several-mile radius around the prison where cell phones would be jammed or inoperable. Thus, the FCC does not allow their usage.

I don't get a signal to talk when I'm inside a cement building, but I can get internet. I don't think internet access takes as much signal as does telephone.

I know someone who works corrections and in my state a corrections officer would be fired for having a cell phone anywhere on prison property. That means in his car as well as on his person. This is most likely to stop guards from letting inmates use the phones. I agree that the signals should be blocked in a prison. I'm tired of hearing about the rights of convicts. They should lose their rights when they are convicted. They shouldn't have anything but a sink and a toilet and a lumpy cot.

rmpb--

Did you just skip right over the part where I explained that a cell phone jaming device would likely block signals with several miles of the prison as well? If you lived 3 miles from a prison, how would you feel about not being able to use your cell phone at home?