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B Y M I C H A EL G R O H S , CO N T R I B U T I N G E D ITOR
Eradicating Contraband Technology that chases down narcotics, shivs, cell phones and other hazardous items.
“THERE'S A GUY LIKE ME in every state and federal prison in America, I guess—I'm the guy who can get it for you. Tailor-made cigarettes, a bag of reefer, if you're partial to that, a bottle of brandy to celebrate your son or daughter's high school graduation, or almost anything else...within reason, that is.” That is the opening line of Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. While the reader may be rooting for Red and Andy, the protagonists, the reality is that contraband is a scourge in correctional facilities, and the phrase “within reason” has probably evolved since then. In the 1990s, the nation was shocked when a video from a contraband video surfaced of deceased serial killer Richard Speck sitting topless with developed breasts grown with contraband
female enhancement drugs, flashing wads of cash and a massive amount of cocaine and boasting about how much fun he was having. Shawshank was written and set long before the advent of the current most pressing contraband scourge: the cell phone. Thousands of cell phones find their way into correctional facilities and are used to intimidate witnesses, run crime syndicates, place hits, and engineer escapes. The five primary ways they get in, says Scott Schober, president and CEO, Berkeley Varitronics Systems, Inc., is via employees, deliveries, visitors, being thrown over the wall hidden inside objects such as basketballs, and now by being delivered by drones. (Drone use has gone from practically nothing in 2013 to a billion-dollar industry.) Prisoners pay as much as
$1,500 for a phone, and corruption certainly exists. An extra $1,000 might sound tempting to those serving in what can be a thankless profession. Back in 2009, in California alone, 300 correctional employees were suspected of smuggling cell phones to prisoners. By fall 2014, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) arrested 546 visitors for smuggling cell phones or drugs. Two years later two employees at a prison admitted to making over $100,000 each trafficking cell phones. They can be smuggled in items such as a peanut butter jar, which might throw off the scent for dogs. They have arrived in hollowed out loaves of bread. Every prison has scores of MacGuyvers with nothing but time to plot. Even Charles Manson had a phone and was able
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