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Comment by cwyers | Hacker News Reader

It seems like there's a lot that could be done to curtail the use of cell phones in prisons that wouldn't require invasive body-cavity searches. Couldn't you just jam common cell phone transmission frequencies? That'd curtail guard use of cell phones, too, but that seems like a worthwhile tradeoff.

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No need to jam - simply put in fake cell towers. I think that idea isn't new and is already proposed [1].

[1] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/17/local/la-me-0417-pri...

Jamming radio signals is a crime.

Keep in mind that prison administrators trust the guards less than they trust the inmates. Phones and drugs don't arrive in the mail -- the COs are often complicit.

Prison personnel are already prohibited from having two-way communication devices except their radios. The problem with jammers is the FCC. They are paranoid about allowing the operation of any devices intended to screw up communications, and rightfully so.

It might be expensive, but you could make the entire prison a Faraday cage (although not sure how that would work if people are allowed to go outdoors).

Yeah, you could basically TEMPEST-harden the whole building. That would significantly increase the cost of building prisons, though.

Indeed. This doesn't leave an awful lot of room for profit. A prison is supposed to be a profitable business, what do people think this is? A service to society?

You reckon? It's basically surrounding the thing with chicken wire. How expensive could that possibly be?

Expense can't be the reason. Maybe the reason they don't do that is because the guards want their phones to work.

Don't rapiscans offer the same kind of non-invasive body-cavity searches? Why not just move the ones that are used in airports to prisons... Seems odd to need to do any invasive body-cavity search when u can just use the same thing that is used in an airport...

When invasive body cavity searches aren't feasible,

When you're minimizing travel anxiety and humiliation,

Remember Rapey-scan(tm). Ask for it by name!

Surely the reason such tech isn't already in place is because such communications are being recorded/monitored?

Couldn't you easily locate devices using triangulation and hand-held receivers? Indeed you could probably just have a device at the door of each cell, and in other places, that told you when a communication on the right frequency was being made.

I highly doubt this. Apathy and inertia are far more likely.

NSA are apparently monitoring my communications and I don't have a criminal record or even live in USA ... so why wouldn't they be monitoring USA prisoners, particularly gang members?

First of all, the NSA is not omniscient. Second, the NSA is tasked with national security- ie, they don't share data with prisons even if they have a juicy scoop.

It's probably fair to assume that phones and other contraband are a part of the balance of power between the authorities and the gangs they need for stability.

How about stopping corrupt guards and service workers from sneaking paraphernalia and drugs into the prisons?

I guess if it were easy to do that it would have been done.

On the contrary. Conterband dealing is some kind of occupational therapy, it is designed to keep the prisoners occupied.

In the federal system, a carton of cigarettes smuggled in will result in a $1000 deposit to an account.

Been there, seen it.

People must be desperate for nicotine. Seems like quite the markup.

You can roll about 5-6 tiny cigarettes from a single regular cigarette. These miniature cigarettes give about 30-50 seconds of light time. People would pay a "book" of stamps (20) for one of the mini's. Figure 200 cigarettes to a carton, makes 1000 mini's. So, about 20000 stamps can be received for a carton.

The seller only accepts whole "books", not poker-chip (separated) stamps. The federal system lets you mail out whole books of stamps. The post office will buy them back for face value.

Its quite profitable supporting smokers' habits in prison.

Thanks. So it includes a markup from `wholesale' to `retail', too. By the way, I guess smoking is prohibited completely in prison? Or are the rations just too small?

The feds took out cigarette smoking system-wide back in 2004-5. They stopped selling them in the commissary and then allowed a year of smoking before possessing them got you in trouble. State prisons I do not know about, except Alaska, and you could not smoke there back in 2002 - the last time I enjoyed their hospitality.

That's already being tried and doesn't work (enough). So the problem becomes 'what else can we do'. What you're saying is 'well we have so many teen pregnancies, why don't teens just stop having sex?'

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