South Carolina Wants To Jam Cell Phone Signals 601
Corey Brook writes "The South Carolina state prison system wants the FCC to grant them and local officers permission to block cell phone signals. News has been out about the growing problem of them perps smuggling cell phones into prisons for a while now. Inmates use cell phones as commerce, to implement fraud, smuggle drugs and weapons, and to order hits. Of course, some may use it to just talk to a loved one any time they can." Hopefully movie theaters and restaurants do it next.
Mobile phones (Score:4, Funny)
I must resist mentioning how in Soviet Russia, mobile phones jam you!
In my local cinema recently, people were quite good with keeping phones on silent, but the light from people checking and sending text messages still annoyed me a bit.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Funny)
But if you ban cell phones in prison, only criminals will have cell phones in prison!
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Interesting)
Our local cinema already blocks cell-phone signals. Active blocking violates FCC regs. Passive blocking is just fine per my understanding. Phones work in the lobby but drop to 0 bars as soon as you get to the hallway leading to the screens.
The logistics of retro-fitting an entire prison complex with a passive blocking cage may be prohibitively difficult, though. In the theater, it was a design feature when it was built a couple of years ago.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
For the cells, work areas, cafeteria, medical area, etc, you're probably right. If it's planned into the construction it's probably only a minor additional expense - And that would likely solve most of the problem.
However, passively blocking the exercise yard is going to be tough... I think out there you're going to have to go active or just hope that the guards will notice if somebody out there is mysteriously crouching and talking to their hand.
[Disclaimer - The only prison I've seen close-up is Alcatra
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The Roman prisons were holes carved into caves & the prisoners were thrown inside. They had access to nothing.
The more I study history, the more I think the Romans displayed a heck of a lot more intelligence than modern politicians (in some respects, not all). If the prisoners have access to nothing, how are they going to charge their cellphone batteries? Eventually the problem solves itself (dead phones).
Re:Mobile phones (Score:4, Insightful)
and dead prisoners.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Funny)
A 15 mW pointer laser in the face of a person waving lights around a darkened theater like that should do the trick. Everyone else will get the message, too, and you have to blind only a minimum of selfish bastards to do it. After a while, society generally will learn the lesson, and the lasers will become merely the stuff of legend.
checking time 75% of the time (Score:4, Interesting)
In a very engrossing movie, I rarely see cell phones opened. For example last week at the new James Bond move which mostly action.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, you know, you could be annoyed by flickers of light you see with your peripheral vision.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Informative)
So yes, the light from cell phones in the movie theatre would be very distracting in your peripheral vision.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
No, you shouldn't use your peripheral vision to see more detail in any situation. The data density from the center of your eye is significantly higher than at any other point. The intensity sensitivity of your eye is greater outside the center -- you are able to detect smaller amounts of light -- but with significantly less detail.
So if you're goal is "detect dim objects" then peripheral vision is the way to go. But if your goal in "increased detail" you should stick with the center of your eye and just buy
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Insightful)
That's 'cos eating still trumps talking for most people.
How many people are going to sit there yakking while their food goes cold? Not too many.
Food is pretty much up there with sex as far as primal instincts go.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Funny)
How many people are going to sit there yakking while their food goes cold? Not too many.
you need to go to a movie in detroit. you will have at least 3 very loud ethnic women talking away on their cellphone. If not on the phone they are talking to the screen...
"Dont go in there! OH MY! DONT DO IT! LORDY!"
I stopped going to the theater because of it.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Funny)
How many people are going to sit there yakking while their food goes cold? Not too many.
Your pro-eating, anti-yakking bias clearly identifies you as a sexist male.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mobile phones (Score:5, Funny)
> Food is pretty much up there with sex as far as primal instincts go.
Or in the immortal words of Descartes: "Burrito, ergo nom."
smuggling (Score:5, Funny)
I just realized what they mean by smuggling them in. I'm guessing I wouldn't want one of those phones close to my mouth/nose.
Re:smuggling (Score:5, Funny)
Re:smuggling (Score:5, Funny)
I just realized what they mean by smuggling them in. I'm guessing I wouldn't want one of those phones close to my mouth/nose.
Because you're allergic to the cake frosting? </naive>
Re:smuggling (Score:5, Funny)
Even if I never go to prison, I can always just keep it on vibrate and still get some use out of it.
Re:smuggling (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to get a cell phone implanted in my penis
Then you can use your Dictaphone... :-)
(Sorry - but I had to get rid of that joke - it was getting so far past its tell-by date)
I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Insightful)
To me the big problem really is that if they can smuggle in stuff the size of a cellphone they can smuggle in lots of other more dangerous stuff.
I don't get why are cellphones themselves a problem, and why the solution is jamming them. After all:
1) If you're actually going to use the cellphones to communicate wirelessly (rather than use them to play games or other stuff), they will emit a very detectable signal.
So it's trivial to find them if they're on.
2) It's a prison, if prisoners are not allowed cellphones, guards can probably walk in at any time, and confiscate them after detecting them by whatever means. And the culprits involved get the usual punishment stuff.
3) The prison could put their own cell stations and listen in. For typical GSM stuff, while the comms between the phone and the base stations are encrypted (albeit intentionally weakened crypto), the comms from the base station to the rest of the network is in plaintext. No really expensive fancy stuff needed.
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Insightful)
Regarding your second point, I suspect that part of the problem is that, while guards are supposed to be the ones enforcing the rules, the sad reality is that guards are often part of the problem. It's well known that much of the prison drug supply comes from guards selling to prisoners, so it's not much of a stretch to think that guards might be supplying cell phones to prisoners as well.
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:4, Interesting)
Regarding your second point, I suspect that part of the problem is that, while guards are supposed to be the ones enforcing the rules, the sad reality is that guards are often part of the problem. It's well known that much of the prison drug supply comes from guards selling to prisoners, so it's not much of a stretch to think that guards might be supplying cell phones to prisoners as well.
Whenever there's a market, a way will be found.
Actually, if they stopped locking people up for victimless crimes, this would be less of a problem! You thow someone in for a victimless "crime", and he gets educated to do real crime when he's released.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not so much that, it's that our prison system is severely underfunded. SC spends less per prisoner than any other state and has a higher per capita prison population than most. We just don't have enough guards to properly enforce rules.
It's gotten so bad that the head of the Dept. of Corrections wants to let nonviolent offenders go early [thestate.com] to save money and ease the crowding.
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Informative)
I think you need to watch a few PBS documentaries on prisons to understand how they work and the stresses that the guards are under.
Also, the money that it takes to run a prison is rather high, you don't have unlimited manpower, and it's dangerous stuff. So item #2 isn't likely to happen with out about 5 other guards with you, in full gear. #3 isn't really feasible since a guard could sell access to his phone, which potentially wouldn't be closely watched.
Your statement about the other dangerous stuff is 100% correct.
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Insightful)
"I don't get why are cellphones themselves a problem, and why the solution is jamming them."
http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/grants/funded-projects/prison-phone-service-provider-contracts-kickbacks-and-fiscal-impact-on-prisoners2019-families [ssrc.org]
The state makes a fortune off prison telephones. All of the talk about "planning crimes" or "drug deals" is total BS.
Not TOTAL BS, but close ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Informative)
In Illinois, the collect call rate for the prison system is $2.00 to accept a call, then 25cents/min thereafter. Criminal. The fact is, contact with outside family is the only thing keeping some of these inmates sane, and helps reduce the recidivism rate as well. These collect call rates tend to lead to phone service disconnects for the people who accept them.
A half hour call with my brother costs more than it would cost to add another line to my cell phone plan.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:I still don't get it though. (Score:5, Interesting)
"I don't get why are cellphones themselves a problem, and why the solution is jamming them."
http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/grants/funded-projects/prison-phone-service-provider-contracts-kickbacks-and-fiscal-impact-on-prisoners2019-families [ssrc.org]
The state makes a fortune off prison telephones. All of the talk about "planning crimes" or "drug deals" is total BS.
You got that right. I worked in the inmate phone racket (as a peon engineer) many years ago, when the market first opened up. In the beginning, county jails and smaller prisons were served by independent phone companies. These companies were mostly local pay-telephone operators -- a market created with the AT&T breakup -- who discovered that it was far more profitable to operate jail-phones than coin operated pay phones. For one thing, you didn't need to go around collecting the coin: inmate phones were collect call only. Secondly, they charged the highest tariffed rate: person-to-person, operator-assisted, collect with sugar on top rates.
There was no actual operator to pay, the inmate just dialed and said his name at the voice prompt and the phone called up his mom/wife/girlfriend with the recorded message: "Will you accept a collect call from inmate x in the county jail? Dial 'one' to accept, 'two' to refuse." Even a local call would cost at least 25 cents plus $1.50 to $3.00 in fees. If the applicable tariff allowed, even these local calls were charged by the minute. An inmate's loved ones could easily get charged hundreds of dollars a month just to keep in touch. There was no warning that these calls would be that expensive.
The jails were happy to provide this service, since the commissions they would receive really helped the jail budget. The jail operators weren't too concerned with the ethics of taking kickbacks, since it was common practice for pay telephone operators to pay a site commission to the property manager in exchange for allowing the placement of the pay phone in the store/bar/restaurant/office building/etc. Of course, the inmates were literally captive consumers. There was no other legal method of real-time communication with the outside world.
Some places had laws that required that the commissions be used for inmate welfare and education only. And there were some particularly ethical jail administrators that also used site commissions only for benefit of the prisoners even without a law requiring it. But usually the commissions went right back into the general fund operating the facility, with the benefit that the administrator or his/her boss could spend it as they pleased, whereas government provided (tax) funding had to be spent where the governing authority specified.
There were also "gifts" provided to sheriffs and jail administrators. These were usually "in-kind", to provide some cover from bribery laws. An in-kind gift could be an artist-signed wildlife lithograph by a well-known, first-class illustrator.
I've long since been out of that field, and the small operators have consolidated and many have sold out to big communications firms, but the business model remains the same.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
obviously there are some really determined inmates in the prison system. perhaps we just need to redirect or refocus their drive towards productive tasks. for instance:
Re: (Score:2)
More Seriously though (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Waaaaaa!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
While I agree with the premise that "it's prison, it's not meant to be fun", I disagree with your "prisoners are all criminals so lets disregard their welfare" attitude.
In this day and age, where the legal definition of a criminal and the moral definition of one are so far divorced from one another, it really can't be taken for granted that prisoners deserve to be where they are. Remember, the RIAA wants jail time for college file sharers.
So, unless you've never shared a copyrighted song or movie with a friend, I'd lose the attitude.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Copyright infringement is a civil offense, not a criminal one.
Which part of:
wasn't clear?
Re:Waaaaaa!!! (Score:4, Informative)
State prisons held a total of 1,274,600 inmates on all charges at yearend 2004. In absolute numbers an estimated 633,700 inmates in State prison at yearend 2004 (the latest year for which offense data is available) were held for violent offenses: 151,500 for murder, 178,900 for robbery, 129,400 for assault, and 153,800 for rape and other sexual assaults. In addition, 265,600 inmates were held for property offenses, 249,400 for drug offenses, and 88,900 for public-order offenses.
Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Couture, Heather, and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, December 2007), NCJ219416, p. 24, Appendix Table 9.
1.2 million people in state prisons, .6 million in for violent offenses, and you'll see that it's around half.
Federal prisons were estimated to hold 176,268 sentenced inmates as of Sept. 30, 2006. Of these, 16,507 were incarcerated for violent offenses, including 2,923 for homicide, 9,645 for robbery, and 3,939 for other violent crimes. In addition, 10,015 inmates were serving time for property crimes, including 519 for burglary, 6,437 for fraud, and 3,059 for other property offenses. A total of 93,751 were incarcerated for drug offenses. Also, 54,336 were incarcerated for public-order offenses, incluging 19,496 for immigration offenses and 24,298 for weapons offenses.
Source: Sabol, William J., PhD, Couture, Heather, and Harrison, Paige M., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2006 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, December 2007), NCJ219416, p. 26, Appendix Table 13.
These facts and others at http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/62 [drugwarfacts.org]
176k people in federal prison, 16k for violent offenses, and it's about 90% of the people who are in for non-violent offenses.
It's also very trivial to get charged with a violent offense, the sad reality is. Often police add on resisting arrest/misdemeanor assault on a police officer (in at least one jurisdiction I've lived in - DC - the crimes are the same) to just about any arrest where the person made any attempt at all to get away.
The ridiculous prison industrial system that exists also creates a culture where violence makes more sense. If you're risking going to prison for decades, life, or more, for a nonviolent offense, you might as well use violence to get away. After all, if you aren't rich enough to afford a lawyer, being a good person - or even being innocent - might not keep you out of prison.
Re:Prison (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not all. In prison, other things can get close to your mouth and nose you wouldn't want. That's why it's prison.
And do you think that it is acceptable? The punishment of prison is to remove a person's liberty, not to have them subjected to sexual and/or physical assualt while turning a blind eye. Don't you think that, as a nation, you ought to be protecting individuals who are on the receiving end of such treatment or are you going to advocate torture, gladiatorial contests and being thrown to the lions as acceptable punishments?
I am continually astounded that an advanced nation can condone such barbaric behaviour and then be affronted when other nations do not choose to follow the 'American' way. You know, things like 'If you are not with us, then you are against us....'. This behaviour actually makes terrorists look civilised.
Re:Prison (Score:4, Funny)
advocate torture, gladiatorial contests and being thrown to the lions as acceptable punishments
Give it time. The Romans didn't think of these things on day 1 either.
Re:Prison (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't be silly. The government wouldn't be able to keep so many decent people in line if jail was just a time-out. Ordinary people might actually be willing to practice civil disobedience or other forms of protest if the worst that would happen is they'd spend time in a cage isolated from society. No, to let prison really keep people in line, the authorities rely on two things -- prison rape is #1, and your complete isolation from decent society even once you're out of prison is #2.
Re:Prison (Score:4, Interesting)
In Colonial American times, prison didn't exist, because it was considered cruel and unusual punishment. Jails (gaols) existed, but only to hold accused people for a short time (not years) until their trial. After they were found guilty, their punishments were quick: hanging, branding, having fruit thrown at them, etc. Generally a lot better IMO than sitting in prison, rotting, for years or decades.
The big problem with American prisons is that they put non-violent and violent inmates in the same prisons. Rapists and murderers should be executed, and until their appeals are exhausted, they should be kept separate from others, not allowed to create their own lawless society where they rape other inmates. Drug offenders should be released and have their records expunged.
I'd support that... (Score:2)
"Hopefully movie theaters and restaurants do it next."
That's the one thing that really pisses me off when I go to watch a film in the cinema: some dickhead who decides to start texting or checking the football scores during the movie.
Seriously, these guys must be loaded if they can afford to pay £8 to watch a film and then spend the whole time on their fucking phone.
Re:I'd support that... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I'd support that... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, because all minimum wage workers are sooooooo stupid. Why, they can't figure out how to operate a regular phone. If the building catches fire they'll probably just stand there and burn to death rather than call for help. It's common knowledge that they're so dumb that they can't drive, read or write, tie their own shoes, and they have to be reminded to breathe occasionally.
Or maybe you're just an arrogant snob who really needs a reality check. Newsflash: a lot of those minimum wage workers you so pomp
Re:I'd support that... (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course OP only needed one sentence, so points for efficiency.
Re:I'd support that... (Score:5, Insightful)
We don't need jammers in theatres and restaurants. What we need are old-fashioned ushers, and old-fashioned shaming. Some asshole keeps lighting up five rows down? Shout at him to quit it. If he gives you guff, go to the manager. You'll probably get a free ticket out of the deal, and he'll get turfed. If you're at a restaurant... well sorry, but you're at a restaurant. People socialize over food.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'd support that... (Score:5, Insightful)
We don't need jammers in theatres and restaurants.
Well, what we really need is more responsible people that think about other people around them a little.
Unfortunately, that is outside of your or mine or the theater management's area. We can't change those people. But we (that is, one of us, the management) can put in jammers.
It's not the perfect solution. But if the perfect solution is theoretical, a good practical solution will do.
Re:Old fashioned pagers... (Score:5, Insightful)
> The cinema's phone blocker could easily detect 911 calls and turn off the the blocking if it detected one.
Really? Easily?
Care to describe how it could easily detect 911 calls, without actually being a cellular base station in its own right?
Re:Old fashioned pagers... (Score:5, Informative)
No, they couldn't. Phone blockers don't magically decrypt the GSM/CDMA radio stream and parse it for a calling number.
Re:I'd support that... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's illegal to jam signals electronically, but so far Faraday cages are legal. My friend Mike has a corrogated steel barn, wne when you're in the barn your phone will NOT work, perod.
Theaters could coat the theater walls with aluminum to lagally block signals. I wish they would.
Prisons could do the same thing. But actually, I think letting prisoners have cell phones is a GOOD thing; that is, if we want to rehabilitate these people. Sadly, I fewr we don't, as a place like Joliet is Crime University.
Re:I'd support that... (Score:4, Insightful)
But actually, I think letting prisoners have cell phones is a GOOD thing; that is, if we want to rehabilitate these people
How does giving them cell phones that they use to commit fraud help to rehabilitate them?
Re: (Score:2)
Cell phone blocking paint (Score:3, Interesting)
I seem to recall reading about cell phone blocking paint [slashdot.org] and wall paper [slashdot.org]. I doubt these require FCC approval. On the other hand, they're harder to get rid of when you use the building for a new purpose, and no longer care about cell blocking. The illegal electronic jammers that they probably want to get FCC approval for could be turned off as soon as they were no longer necessary.
Re: (Score:2)
My concerns (Score:5, Informative)
I work right next to SCDC's main prison facility in Columbia. Right now, the thing that really concerns us is "spillover" of this jamming into our area. We have a wifi network that we depend on (and cellphones we need, of course) and so the last thing we need is this plan having unitended consequences for wireless signals. It doesn't help that South Carolina state government has a long history of hiring shoddy technology contractors who promise the world and deliver a buggy product that only makes things worse. Jon Ozmint (the head of SCDC) has sworn that it won't leak outside of their facilities, but I'm somewhat cautious.
The Ridegville test referred to in the article wasn't that worthwhile because Ridgeville is isolated (it's in the middle of nowhere and lagely self-contained.) The main facility in Columbia is a much larger, more wide open area located right next to the state police headquaters, Dept. of Public Safery, and several other state agencies and businesses--all of whom depend greatly on their cellhones, networks, and communications equipment. I just don't see how they could blanket that whole area and not have spillover jamming--Unless they restrict it to inside of their buildings which would mean that most prisoners would still have plenty of opportunities to use their cellphones (since most prisoners spend a lot of time outside the buildings, except for the really high-level ones)
It's not that we're not sympathetic to the problem of cellphones in the prison system. We're just worried that they might be rushing forward with an untested and possibly ill-advised solution that could have a deleterious effect on nearby wireless usage. We're hoping they will at least give us a testing period to see its effects before they bring it online.
Re:My concerns (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty sure that all signals leak to some extent. If he claims no leakage at all, then he's already making ill-informed claims.
Re: (Score:2)
Minor correction...
As another poster observed [slashdot.org] there's other ways to implement blocking cell phone signals. Those other ways probably don't look too "sexy" though (i.e. not enough shiny blinky lights for management and/or not high enough margins for the contractor ).
GPS put in phones for our SAFETY. (Score:3, Interesting)
If prisoners are doing UNSAFE things with the phone (calling in hits)
then shouldn't the location of the phone be obvious. Prisons are fairly stationary.
So, call your nearby phone providers, tell them your coords, and block
the region.
No need for expensive new machines to do this.
One obvious question... (Score:5, Insightful)
What in the hell are inmates doing with cell phones in the first place?
In an environment where even the smallest improvised weapon can be found and confiscated, you'd think it would be drop-easy for the prison to find and confiscate a cell phone. Any inmate caught with one gets n weeks/months added to their sentence... problem solved.
Seriously - it's prison, not a Hilton, FFS - if they need to use a phone (for speaking to their lawyer, loved-ones, etc), let 'em use a POTS phone wired into a wall somewhere.
The solution the SC prison system is looking for? It's akin to wrapping ships in Saran Wrap to fix any potential leaks - expensive and not very workable over time...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Homeland Security (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One obvious question... (Score:4, Insightful)
you'd think it would be drop-easy for the prison to find and confiscate a cell phone
You've never been in prison have you? ;)
Imagine having nothing to do for 24 hours a day other than think of ways to smuggle shit past the guards. Think you might come up with a few ideas?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Smuggling shit is notoriously easy. Everyone of us does it every day. Smuggling other stuff, like cellphones or weapons, is somewhat harder, and requires a modicum of thought.
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Re:One obvious question... (Score:5, Informative)
Many inmates get, and get to keep, whatever they want, (drugs, weapons, phones) via bribed and/or intimidated guards...at least a 'blanket' jamer would sidestep the problem. You can't cavity-search all the inmates and staff every 20 minutes...
it is that inmates may (Score:3, Funny)
Re:they get drugs too (Score:5, Informative)
Modern prisons (especially lower security ones) aren't built like they used to be, where every prisoner is in a cell by themselves or with a single roommate. Oftentimes there are dormitory-like conditions where a dozen or so inmates are in a room together. In addition, there are frequently common-areas (other than the cafeteria) when inmates are gathered in groups. These types of situations make it easier for inmates to hide contraband, especially where other inmates have an interest in assisting or at least no interest in actively preventing it. Add to this modern construction techniques (drop ceilings in a prison? WTF?) and you're asking for trouble.
You can argue all day long about whether sentences are supposed to be punitive or rehabilitative, but the current situation (with regards to prison rape, drug use, and other contraband) is a direct result of these modern innovations (dorms, common areas, etc.)
An ideal prison (IMO) would be more like Alcatraz, where each individual prisoner was kept in an separate, concrete block cell. I think if you had this kind of control, you'd be more able to do rehabilitative things (like provide access to computers, etc) whereas now the risks are too high.
Of course, that kind of facility wouldn't be cheap, and since we're running so many prisons I don't see it happening.
Careful what you wish for... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They have systems in place to deal with that.
Can you imagine if they didn't, you would have the guy who's phone broke for whatever reason on the floor with absolutely no protection. Radios, intercoms, closed circuit TV and all sorts of things are in place. They even have panic switches that they can activate or becomes activated automatically when they fall down (as if attacked).
The whole idea of prison is (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The whole idea of prison is (Score:4, Insightful)
you do NOT get to do whatever you want whenever you want. Those rights were temporarily forfeited upon conviction.
Um, I've never been convicted and I still don't get to do whatever I want whenever I want. In fact, if I did that, I could go to jail!
Re:The whole idea of prison is (Score:5, Funny)
I'm a free man and I haven't had a conjugal visit in 6 months.
why not? (Score:2, Funny)
After all, they already jammed the phone up someone's asshole to get it into prison.
Theatre's & restaurants next, huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, because if there is one thing that I would wish of my theatre- and restaurant- going experiences, would be that they be more like prison. :P
Re:Theatre's & restaurants next, huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
What people want to jam is not cell phones in movie theaters and restaurants. What they want to ban are the people that abuse cell phone use in those environments.
I mention this because it seems like I'm the one guy that always has to pop into "ban the phones" threads to remind people that some of us use cell phones for emergency purposes and would rather not have to give up eating at local establishments or seeing first-run movies just because not everybody is good enough to put the phone on vibrate and leave the company of others when they get a call.
So, hopefully movie theaters and restaurants never do it. My wife and I go out very infrequently as it is because of our son's medical needs. I wouldn't want to lose what little opportunity we have to enjoy an evening out.
Re:Theatre's & restaurants next, huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
If all of these holier than thou smartasses want a good movie watching experience where is the cry to ban children? People with colds? People who breathe too loudly or wear the swishy coats? There are plenty of things that can annoy me when I go to a movie, and cellphones have never been one of them.
I came to the realization long ago that my absolute guaranteed comfort does not trump the basic day to day existence of other people. While we're at it why don't we ban them is stores so that people can't talk in line, and ban them in public so people don't drive with them. In fact I find other people on cellphones annoying where ever I am, so why not just ban them altogether?
Right.
Monitor (Score:2)
Setup smaller receivers around the prison that for one, would let officers get the drop on anything inmates try to plan out, surely there's no wiretapping laws in prison considering phones are surely contraband, and for two with a few smaller receivers they could at least triangulate the position down to a cell block and perform a shakedown.
I'm just worried about what is going to happen when inmates tak
Hold on there... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hopefully movie theaters and restaurants do it next.
If the problem is the noise or the light from the screens, kick people out for breaking the rules (one warning for light, no warnings for talking, for example), but I really don't want us to make a habit of jamming RF devices. That's a bit like banning alcohol to keep people from driving drunk. What if there's a fire? A crime? A doctor with an emergency who knows how to stand up and walk out when he gets a call?
Heavy-handed solutions create tons of problems. Ask people to behave like respectful adults and kick them out the moment they fail to do so.
Re:Hold on there... (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree. The issue with a lot of rules (especially rules that aren't laws, such as the ones mentionned above) is that they aren't enforced, and people don't seem to care about enforcing them. If there's a HUGE "No cellphone" sign in the theater, and someone is talking their ass off in front of me during a movie, and I politely (seriously) ask them to be a little more quiet (not even stop!), I get told to fuck off. If there's a no smoking sign in the bus stop's shelter and someone is smoking, and I ask them to take 2 steps outside of it (on a sunny day!), I'll also get told to mind my own business. And with all of these, if I tell the people in CHARGE of enforcing those rules, they'll ignore me.
Result? People ask for more laws, or for draconian measures, like the grandparent.
Jail house blocked (Score:4, Funny)
Everybody in the whole cell block
They was jammed' up 'cause the cellphones blocked
Active Jamming vs. Faraday Cage (Score:4, Informative)
I suppose with a prison like this they have multiple buildings and the prisoners might have time outside where they could use cell phones. Then, of course, they want their own guard's radios to work.
Big problem on Texas Death Row (Score:5, Informative)
Cell phones in prisons have been big news in Texas, after a Death Row inmate was stupid enough to make threatening calls to the chairman of the state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee. They're still being found [chron.com], weeks after a supposed crackdown that turned up dozens of in-cell cell phones systemwide, along with an inordinate amount of drugs and weapons.
The Grits For Breakfast [blogspot.com] criminal justice blog has been following the issue closely, asking questions like "Will we see prosecutions of staff who smuggle cell phones in addition to inmates and family members paying for their minutes?" Answer: probably not. Sen. Whitmire, whose family was the target of phoned-in threats from Death Row, summed it up pretty nicely at an emergency Senate hearing on the issue. TDCJ officials promised to implement a plan they'd been working on, to prevent guards from smuggling contraband to prisoners, to which Whitmire responded with a question: Why the hell weren't you doing that already?
One story mentioned a phone that was only found by an abdominal X-ray. I wonder if it was this little bugger [thinkgeek.com]? Oh, sorry, bad choice of words.
Re:Big problem on Texas Death Row (Score:4, Funny)
One story mentioned a phone that was only found by an abdominal X-ray.
Well that's one way to jam a cell phone.
"Jamming" is such a misused term (Score:5, Interesting)
"Jamming" is not necessary. Everyone seems to think that blowing out a signal is the only way to get things done. That is way too short-sighted.
It's easy to install a cell network of your own. Hell, Sprint sells 4-person personal cell towers in their stores in the US. So instead of "jamming" the frequencies, make a localized cell network that simply black-holes the unauthorized calls. This could even be adapted so the ESNs of legitimate users (guards, warden, etc) could be passed through, so everyone is happy.
Or if you want to go the "Big Brother" route, make a localized network that snoops on all the unauthorized voice and data traffic. Seems like a great way to prove that criminals inside jails with cell phones are actually orchestrating crimes instead of just guessing about it.
Boy do I have a story for you! (Score:5, Interesting)
So they found a nit to arrest me on -- some unpaid fine or some such -- and they were holding me pending release as soon as some friends could bring in the money I owned.
Alas, Bush was visiting that day and they needed the local police station for security operations. And so everyone they were holding had to be carted off to the state correctional facility. Fun stuff.
I has asked to use my cell phone so that I could make some calls to those trying to get me out, so that they would know where to go to get me out. It was a mad rush at that police station and many of the cops there looked very distracted and confused. Since I was polite to those who held me behind bars, they granted me this request.
They were so distracted they forgot they actually gave me my cell phone! Well, I decided to just slip it in my pocket and hang on to it.
When I arrived at the correctional facility, they knew that myself and the other guys were coming from the local police station, so they did not bother to "pat us down". It was simply a prisoner transfer. We were wearing our civilian clothes when we arrived, and they have this elaborate process of "processing" everyone. So into the waiting room we went. Before they put us in, they made us take off our coats and dump them in piles along a wall on the floor. Fortunately, I had thought to move my cell phone from my pants to my coat pocket en route to the facility, so I dropped my coat with cell phone nicely packed inside.
The other immates were, for the most part, behaving like civilized people. It was the prison facility that had a lot of bad attitude towards us. Hell, you'd think they were the criminals! There were cameras everywhere, and I noted the position of each and every one of them.
So, during the process, they put us into those horrid bright-orange jumpsuits, and back into the holding area. They would occasionally allow one or two of us out to make phone calls from the payphone on the wall. Though, you needed a special number to make any calls at all, and they would limit you to a minute or so. And they were very slective about whom they allowed to make phone calls, and not everyone got a chance.
So, I was allowed out to make a phone call and ask a question or two. After I was done, I watched all the personell and they all looked busy doing things and weren't watching me. I decided, what the hell -- I boldly strode over to where my coat was dumped on the floor, and in one swift move that would make any slight-of-hand magician proud, I swooped down and snatched the cell phone from my coat pocket without anyone noticing! 3 seconds afterwards, I was told to go back to the holding area, and I did.
I carefully noted the layout of the holding area, which had a very big window so the personell could see us, and there was also a camera. There were about 30 or so of us in that holding area. Ah, but there was a small area near the open toilet that the camera could not see and was not in the view of the guards. Perfect! I went to that area and made a couple of phone calls to those outside to tell them how to access my bank accounts to get the money to get me out of jail! Perfect!
Of course, other innmates noticed I had a cell phone, and immediatly I was "everyone's friend". They all began asking me if they could borrow my cell to call a girlfriend, a wife, or a mother. I was so moved by this I lent them this. I had them all stand, one at a time, in that same "sweet spot" whilst others stood watch.
Not one single person called to make a drug deal. Not one single person called to make a hit order. ALL called family, friends, loved ones, and the like. T
Re: (Score:2)
I can guarantee you that any of the people you mentioned above, if they were on call, would not be sitting in a theater taking the chance on losing out on their $20. They would either be off duty and not susceptible to being paged. or would have told whomever to not page them for X amount of time.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So anyone who works in the medical field should just have to forgo going to the movies? What about people with kids and a babysitter at home that needs to reach them? Wouldn't a better solution be for the fucking theaters to employ ushers again, whom could presumably stop people from abusing their cell phones while the movie is playing?
Re:fp (Score:5, Funny)
I'd say don't bother with blocking cell phones, let the inmates have as many as they want.
Just make it a death penalty to be caught in possession of a charger.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Even easier - don't give them easy access to power outlets. Seriously.. they are in prison - do they really need a 120v outlet in their prison cell so they can charge their mobile phone?
Re: (Score:3)
No, but they may need a 120v outlet for an electric shaver or something, although we could give them razor blades.
This sentiment is very common- always striving to make prison even more hellish than it might be now. Every so often voters and politicians increase the rate at which prisons are packed in order to express their disapproval of crime. The average American is much more likely to be in pr
War On Drugs and the ACLU (Score:3, Informative)
The reason one of every hundred US citizens is in prison is MOSTLY due to the War On Drugs. Furthermore, drug offendors get "good behavior points" toward earlier release for attending religious (not just "spiritual") 12-step based groups in prison, clearly against the First Amendment [morerevealed.com] (even those on death row are guaranteed freedom of religion, yet many are required to attend Alcoholics Aonymous and other groups [orange-papers.org] by Government agents), yet the ACLU wants every prisoner to have access an electrical power outle
Re:fp (Score:5, Interesting)
And why not intercept all calls by setting up a prison-wide base-station? Use the ECHELON system or something to take care of the intercepted calls.
You know this is an idea I could really get behind - microcell equipment for office buildings, etc. has reached quite an affordable level and wouldn't really be more than a drop in the bucket when it comes to a prison budget. This way guards, staff, and visitors could still use their cell phones -- perhaps when you arrive at the prison check-in desk you give them your cell's ESN - they enable it for 8 or 12 hours through their microcell - you can make all the calls you want, etc. If you slip the phone to a prisoner or whatever, they are cutoff within the day and the phone is useless. Obviously all phone numbers "from and to" will be recorded - and you can be informed as such when you give them your ESN to get service within the prison.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I would rather you hire someone competent to watch your child, stay home when your child is sick, put your phone on vibrate, and leave the room before you answer the call. In other words, not be a self-absorbed asshole.
As a comedian said, your private is invading our public.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
In male prisons there are tiers (usually 3) that range from white collar criminals (fraud, drug posession) to your serious felons (rape, murder). In female prisons, there is 1 tier (which is why there are more fights, injuries, and deaths per capita for females across the nation in state facilities). Declaring that prison should be unpleasant is small minded and truly an oversimplification of hard problems.