Bars of trouble: cell phones in jail vex wardens nationwide

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People in jail aren't supposed to have cell phones.But across America, one way or another, they're getting them.In Maryland, inmate Patrick Albert Byers Jr. used one to arrange the murder of a witness in a homicide case, prosecutors say. He's facing the federal death penalty.In Canada, imprisoned drug lord Rivo D'Onofrio used cell phones to make thousands of calls to his cronies. "He gabbed for hours and hours," a prosecutor said.In a notorious Pennsylvania, drug kingpin Ronald Whethers used cell phones to run his narcotics empire from the Westmoreland County Prison, leading to a state law prohibiting cell phones behind bars.Corrections officers at home and abroad are struggling with how to keep inmates from wreaking havoc by phone."They're pulling their hair out," said Louis Garzarelli, a former U.S. Bureau of Prisons intelligence officer who teaches criminology at Mount Aloysius College in Mercer County, Pa. "They really don't know what to do about it. The damage that is done is unaccountable. They don't know how many are in there."The problem has reached absurd proportions in some states.A Maryland legislator was stunned when a prisoner called him on a cell phone to complain about his prison. In Texas, a warden received a call from the mother of an inmate asking why her son was getting such poor cell phone reception behind bars.Some other countries have it a lot worse.Two years ago in Brazil, hundreds of incarcerated gang members used cell phones to coordinate riots at 73 prisons and attacks on the outside against police. The wave of violence paralyzed the state of Sao Paulo and left 160 people dead.The United States has seen nothing on that scale, but prison officials are seizing thousands of cell phones nationwide.Some are brought in by visitors, who have been known to hide them in body cavities.But the majority are supplied by guards, often in exchange for bribes. The going price: $500. In Pennsylvania, corrections officers can themselves end up in jail under the law inspired by the Ronald Whethers case in 2000.In Cambria County, Pa., for example, former part-time officer Donald Burkett is awaiting trial on a charge of letting an inmate use his personal cell phone to call his girlfriend. A second guard is under investigation.The newest threat behind bars is the SIM card, a tiny, portable memory chip that allows lots of prisoners to use a single phone.The prison system simply hasn't kept up with communications technology."Cell phones become a huge threat to three people: the officers inside the prison, the prisoners themselves, and the public," said Terry Bittner, director of security products for EVI Technology, a Maryland company whose cell phone detection system is used in one Pennsylvania prison, some facilities in the federal system and elsewhere.Companies such as EVI Technology and AirPatrol make systems that use radio frequency sensors hooked up to a computer that displays a map of the prison. If someone is using a phone, a technician at the computer will see a flashing blip on the screen.So why isn't everybody using it? Experts say the problem is cost, which is dependent on the size of the prison, the age of its infrastructure and the number of sensors requested to cover a given area.EVI counters that its system isn't that expensive, considering that it's a one-time cost and it provides 24-hour coverage. The company said the price tag ranges from $25,000 for a small Virginia jail to $80,000 for a 3,000-inmate federal facility.Other experts suggest that cell-phone jammers might be the best solution. Only problem: These jammers are illegal in the U.S., even in prisons, under the 1996 Communications Act.But an upcoming experiment in South Carolina, and a series of petitions pending before the Federal Communications Commission, are forcing a hard look at whether they should be. Opposing any change is the cell phone industry, which is concerned that legitimate cell phone calls will be jammed as well.(E-mail Torsten Ove at tove(at)post-gazette.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)