Small, easily-concealed mobile phones are a top commodity among prison inmates, top concern for corrections officers
New Jersey prison officials confiscated this book from an inmate who was using a cut-out to conceal a cell phone. The cell phone shown in a 2009 photo is a training aid used by corrections officials using cell-phone sniffing dogs to detect the devices in cells. NEWARK — Keeping one of the most dangerous contraband items — the small, and seemingly innocuous, cell phone — out of jails and prisons has become a 21st century nightmare for corrections officers.
In jail, a cell phone "is a valuable commodity and they will go to any lengths to get them," said Alfaro Ortiz, director of the Essex County Correctional Facility. "Much like drugs, it’s about five to 10 times the worth what somebody would just buy a phone on the street for."
John Shaffer, a consultant with ITT Defense and formerly the second in command of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections, said the problem is pervasive nationwide.
"It’s a hot topic among all corrections professionals," Shaffer said. "There have been similar cases in New Jersey and around the country. Texas has the case of a death row inmate using a cell phone to call Sen. John Whitmire to threaten his family."
On Thursday, Corrections Officer Joseph Mastriani was accused of running a 13-person operation in which Essex County Correctional Facility inmates "ordered out" for everything from cell phones to heroin. Prosecutors said Mastriani pocketed $1,000 some weeks, filling orders by using go-betweens on the street and point men in jail.
One of the alleged point men inside the jail was a suspect awaiting trial on murder charges, Wilbert Best.
The problem of inmates smuggling cell phones also was highlighted in June after state prison inmate Anthony Kidd was accused of using a cell phone to order a "hit" on his ex-girlfriend.
"They’re threatening witnesses, they’re doing gang activity, they’re running drug deals," New Jersey Corrections Commissioner Gary Lanigan said last month at a roundtable meeting with reporters in Bridgeton. "It undermines the criminal justice system."
A 2008 attorney general’s office investigation also highlighted the sprawling reach cell phones provide to inmates. A probe into the state’s highest-security prison showed Clarence Scott used a smuggled phone to dictate actions of a Paterson-based set of the Bloods street gang. He allegedly conducted business across New Jersey from his Trenton prison cell.
To address the problem, Lanigan is pushing federal legislation to jam cell phones at correctional facilities.
Then, he said, the inmate would have "a 4-ounce piece of garbage."
Lanigan said technology to pinpoint cell phones is costly and requires additional training to use. Meanwhile, jamming technology should be cheaper, but is still not available.
In Pennsylvania, Shaffer worked with ITT to develop a technology called Cell Hound. Using a triangulation method, Cell Hound detects frequencies of all major cell phone brands.
Elsewhere, another type of hound — dogs — is being trained to track the scent of a lithium battery and find cell phones. That training can be expensive and difficult, Shaffer said.
Corrections departments are also using handheld devices, similar to metal detection wands, that look for phone components such as circuit boards.
"The downside is you have to be within several inches of the device to find it," Shaffer said. Plus, it reacts to many devices inmates are allowed to possess, such as radios and televisions, creating false nuisance alarms.
Shaffer said a common ploy corrections officers use to smuggle cell phones is to pass through the metal detector, then say they forgot something in their car and walk through unchecked a second time. Others have put contraband between sandwiches in their lunch box, a place fellow officers are reluctant to search.
Corrections officials also said they have noticed an increase in cell phone smuggling over the past decade, as the phones became smaller and more commonplace.
Ortiz said he supports Lanigan’s initiative on cell jamming, but cautioned there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
"With regard to jamming devices, nothing is perfect," he said. "Whatever tech is out there we’re definitely interested in, but right now we haven’t found one specific solution to this problem."
By James Queally and Mike Frassinelli/Star-Ledger staff