New bill would criminalize cellphones in California prisons
By Will Park on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 6:58 PM PST In Announcements
This is one way to smuggle a cellphone into prison. No thank you.
From coordinating drug deals to escape routes to violent crimes, cellphones are increasingly being used for criminal means inside California prisons. California state prisoners are already banned from possessing mobile phones, but that hasn’t stopped the inflow of cellphones from doubling to 2,800 in 2008! A new bill aims to stop the smuggling of mobile phones into prisons by criminalizing their possession with a maximum $5,000 fine.
Under the current system, the possession or smuggling of a cellphone is only a rules violation. That’s hardly a deterrent to criminals intent on keeping nefarious lines of communications open. So, California State Sen. John Benoi has introduced bill SB 434, which would make it a misdemeanor crime to possess a cellphone in prison.
“Cell phone smuggling into California’s prisons is a very serious and growing problem,” Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said during a press conference. “Public safety officials in prisons and prosecutors on the outside need additional tools to combat cell phone smuggling to inmates.”
Florida has already made it illegal to have a cellphone on the “inside,” as they say. And, they’re using a phone-sniffing dog to enforce the new law! It wouldn’t be too far a jump to see this new bill become law in California.
[Via: CnetNews]
