N.J. prisons to sniff out cell phones
By BRIAN IANIERI
Staff Writer, 609-463-6713
Published: Sunday, November 16, 2008
New Jersey's prisons are preparing to use cell phone-sniffing dogs at their facilities to combat a problem that has grown along with the technology.The dogs are taught to find a compound found in cell phones and can be used to sniff out the contraband, said Matt Schuman, spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Corrections.Prison systems use different techniques to detect illegal cell phones, including metal detectors and machines that can track when a cell phone is being used."They've looked into a lot of different equipment to detect cell phones in cells. One of the big problems with most of the equipment is the cell phones have to be on to detect them," he said.Schuman said the state's K-9 handlers taught their dogs to detect the scent of a cell phone.
State officials are planning a public demonstration in December before implementing the animals, he said.In New Jersey prisons, 217 cell phones were confiscated in a 13-month period from the beginning of October 2007 to the end of last month, he said. Cell phones with numerous metal components are easier to find. But in some cases, they can be difficult to find, he said. Cell phones in prisons and jails represent a large area of concern at the state and national levels.Cell phones worry corrections' officials for numerous reasons. Phones with cameras can transit images about the layout of the facility. Phones can be used to monitor the movements of prison staff or be used to orchestrate gang-related drug deals from the inside.In Texas, a death row inmate was recently accused of repeatedly threatening a Texas state senator by calling him on a smuggled cell phone.And cases of cell phones confiscated in New Jersey over the past several years show the lengths inmates go to disguise the cell phones once they're inside the facility. Corrections personnel have discovered cell phones hidden in the false lid of a can and stashed in air vents of dormitories.In some cases, radio batteries were rigged to power the phones.In Cumberland County's Bayside Prison in 2006, veteran corrections officer Susan Ferrari, of Vineland, smuggled drugs, alcohol, pornography and cell phones to inmates. In 2007, she pleaded guilty to official misconduct and was sentenced to four years in prison.One inmate at the prison, Patrick Treacy, was charged with distributing drugs and using a cell phone to conduct illegal activities, according to a state appellate court decision from 2007 when Treacy unsuccessfully sought to fight the charges.In 2003 at Hudson County Correctional Center, Tariq Maqbool, who is serving greater-than-life sentences for four murders, had two cell phones and a cell phone charger hidden inside a light fixture in his cell. Also in the cell were escape implements, including screwdriver bits hidden in a multi-vitamin bottle, a Swiss Army knife, a nail clipper and tweezers, according to a 2008 state appellate decision in which the court sided with the Department of Corrections in later denying Maqbool a job as a paralegal in a law library.Last year, the state Legislature passed a law creating harsher penalties for possession, use or distribution of cell phones in prisons, jails and secure juvenile facilities.Cape May County Jail Warden Richard Harron, president of the New Jersey County Jail Warden's Association, testified at a hearing in Trenton last year in support of the law."Having a cell phone in jail is like giving an inmate a key," Harron said.Inmates could run drug operations from their cell. Unlike supervised telephone calls at correctional facilities, cell phone calls are not monitored and recorded, he said."It's like a high commodity," he said.E-mail Brian Ianieri:BIanieri@pressofac.com
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