|
Videos
April 18, 2012 By Ashley Nelson
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) this week announced that it has awarded a contract for two systems expected to eliminate the use of contraband cellphones among inmates and crack down on dangerous communications.
The contract includes the Inmate/Ward Telephone and Managed Access systems, both of which will be implemented by Global Tel*Link. The department initially made plans to develop the Inmate/Ward Telephone system — which will allow inmates to make approved collect calls on pay phones at a reduced rate, and allow multiple payment options for inmates and families — and then added the Managed Access System into the contract to comply with a new state law approved last year that enacted new penalties for unauthorized use of mobile devices at correctional facilities.
The Managed Access System, expected to be functioning at the first institution by the end of 2012, will block cell services such as email, texts, phone calls and Internet access for all cellphone numbers not previously entered into the system as approved devices. The plan includes a cell tower or antenna installation at each state institution, according to the CDCR.
“It provides an umbrella where your telephone number must be on this authorized list in order for it to be passed on to a commercial carrier,” said Tammy Irwin, project manager for both systems. Unlike call jamming, an illegal practice, the Managed Access System has been approved by the FCC and will affect only designated areas on state prison grounds, she said. California is the first state to implement such a system statewide, according to Irwin.
Packaging both systems in one contract is intended to address the safety issue of prisoners increasingly using unauthorized cellphones, and the move allowed the CDCR to consider a solution that would cost the state nothing extra.
Global Tel*Link is installing the infrastructure for the cellphone blocking technology at no additional charge, in return for revenue generated by the new inmate call system. The project will provide entirely new hardware for the pay phones. Officials anticipate more pay phone usage by inmates via the concession-based contract. “The thought then is that there would be enough concession or revenue to offset any cost of the vendor to deploy the Managed Access System,” said Joe Panora, director of enterprise information services for the CDCR.
Panora added that the plan is a “win-win, creative way for us to address this issue” of cellphone use in state prisons.
“Contraband cellphone usage has been a growing problem for corrections for a long time,” Panora said, adding that it’s a public safety problem that impacts everyone — from former crime victims to state prison workers.
The number of unauthorized, contraband cellphones found in California state prisons has jumped from 1,400 in 2007 to 15,000 in 2011. Prison officials across the country are starting to address the public safety problem presented by the trend.
“This is something that throughout the United States people are going to be looking at our benchmarks and our success here,” Panora said.
For more coverage about IT in California state government, visit TechWire.net
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Cellphone-Blocking-California-Prisons.html
Collaborative Justice: Transforming Criminal Justice Services Through Unified Collaboration
Cloud-Based Services Accelerate Public Sector Adoption of Video Collaboration
Sounds like something that schools should also be looking at. With the extensive ability for students to text and email while in classes rather than paying attention to teachers is in my opinion a great stepping off point to have this technology deployed in American high schools. Students have been caught in recent years texting exam answers to each other not to mention the "sexting" that takes place. Schools are supposed to be places of learning not texting, email and chatting on computers. From a security standpoint there has to be better control, but without going overboard. There needs to be the same level of concern too with prisoner computer access and information they are able to access and view. IMHO I think that prisoners in correctional facilities should not have access at all to computers. Unless you have security professionals looking at every datagram packet going out and coming into a prison network, there is no way to really police the system. Yes you can use firewall devices to deep packet filter, but there still needs to be human intervention.
Overpriced technology is only needed because the FCC is in the pocket of the cell phone industry. In Europe, small and inexpensive jammers are used in "cell free zones" like movie theaters. Illegal in America, of course. We could outfit the entire prison system for the cost of ONE managed access system. Your taxt dollars at work.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights sure does get in the way of doing things the way Europe does them. I mean, even the movie theater managers there have the right to revoke access to what our FCC deems a right. Imagine!
There is no rights argument to be made against using blocking technology in a prison. If you want to talk rights, why is the government granting a monopoly to charge usurious rates? $$$ Legal Kickbacks $$$. Just discussed this with my office partner who received one of these collect calls that pay for this. Global Tel*Link charged $30 $9 a minute for the call. These calls are predominately made to prisoner families so it is robbing them for the privilege {or right, depending on jurisdiction}. From http://pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/study-exposes-prison-phone.html According to the report: “PLN [Prison legal News] found that 42 states accept kickback commissions from prison phone companies, which include Unisys, Securus and Global Tel*Link (partly owned by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs). In some cases the commissions exceed 60 percent of prison phone revenue.” The report noted that not all states demand commissions from the prisoner telephone industry. California and New York are states that previously accepted the payments, but stopped in 2011. Prison telephone costs were reduced by 61 percent and 69 percent, respectively.
Since when should a prisoner have a "right" to communicate with whomever/whenever s/he pleases? Isn't that part of the punishment; deprivation of freedoms: speech, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness?
No cellphones, no TV, no Internet, maybe a Saturday movie, oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Maybe a book once in a while. They weren't sent there to be entertained now, were they. How about 20 years of staring at a wall for your crime, instead of Club Fed. It's about time this got done....
It's about friggen time.
http://www.ccst.us/publications/2012/2012cell.pdf
God does not like ugly.. Just because someone is in prision does not mean that they deserve to stare at a wall for x amount of years. You are a cold hearted person Dave in NC. I bet you would not say that about one of your own. Or even if it was you. Family and friends is what gets inmates through from day to day. You are heartless. May God have mercy on your heartless heart. As for you Bob Bullock your just as heartless for agreeing. I agree there needs to be a crack down but make it a feesable enough cost. Everyone needs someone to depend on and talk to.
It's funny that the state of California would pay millions for something that they could get for free! Yes, the state could force the cellular carriers to block their OWN signals at the prisons. They can create "dead zones" in their own networks at no cost to them and no cost to the state. They currently do it for high security zones for the US government. Why didn't the state pursue this option???