Filed under “obvious things like this really need a law?” we’ve got the story of California Senate bill 525, which penalizes people dumb enough to try and sneak a mobile phone into prison. We covered this story back in April 2009 when SB525 was nothing more but a concept in the minds of legislators. As a testament to the swiftness of California’s government, SB525 took only 16 months to pass. Strangely enough, when the bill was written last year it was called SB434 so … I’m at a loss for words as to why the name changed.
On to the statistics of how many mobile phones are confiscated; this always fascinate me. In 2007 there were 1,400 devices that somehow enabled two way communication taken from California prisoners. In 2008 that number went up to 2,800. We’d love to see 2009 and 2010 figures, but those numbers are a bit hard to find. For comparison’s sake we have the countries of Wales and England which combined have a population of 53 million, a fair bit larger than California’s 37 million. Between February 2009 and January 2010, that’s less than a year, prison wardens confiscated 4,461 mobile phones and 4,325 SIM cards from the boys across the pond. That figure is 400% higher than it was only 3 years ago. The English are better at this. Much better.
Back to SB525, the headline is a bit misleading. The legislature unanimously passed the bill, but now Governor Arnold Terminator Detective Kimball Schwarzenegger needs to sign the bill for it to go into law. If you’re caught trying to smuggle a mobile phone into a prison, you can get a fine of up to $5,000.
I say why stop there? Why not make the idiot spend a night in jail. After all, if you’re crazy enough to try and sneak an iPhone inside a prison cell, maybe you’re crazy enough to actually enjoy a night with the people who are in there for mugging someone on the street in an attempt to steal their iPhone.
Karma. Right?
[Photo slightly related; Lindsay Lohan crying because she’s going to jail is amusing]