Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010

Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2009. This bill would close a loophole that currently exists in Federal law by prohibiting the possession of cell phones and other wireless devices by prisoners in Federal facilities.

Currently, cell phones found in prisons are not specifically defined as contraband material. As a result, guards and inmates found smuggling or in possession of a cell phone in a Federal prison are rarely punished.

This bill would close this loophole by defining cell phones as contraband material under Federal law. As a result, any person smuggling or in possession of a cell phone could potentially serve up to a year in prison.

A cell phone should never be in the hands of a prisoner. The presence of these cell phones poses a grave safety concern for staff, inmates, and the public. We know that inmates use these phones to conduct criminal business outside of prison walls, including directing gang hits, controlling drug trafficking operations and even conducting credit card fraud. Corrections departments across the country are reporting a sharp increase in the number of cell phones being smuggled into prison facilities.

In May, California Inspector General David Shaw released a report on inmate cell phone use in California state prisons. The report found that cell phone seizures have increased tenfold in two years--from 261 in 2006 to 2,811 in 2008. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, cell phone and electronic communication device possession, ``is one of the most significant problems facing the Department today.''

So far this year, authorities have discovered over 4,000 cell phones among inmates in California prisons. There are presumably thousands more that were not discovered. Smugglers receive hundreds of dollars for each cell phone and more money if the cell phone contains a camera.

Staff members who smuggle cell phones for inmates often receive more in compensation for the contraband phones than they do from their paychecks. The California Inspector General's report on inmate cell phone use found that inmates pay $500 to $1,000 per cell phone and noted that one corrupt correctional officer received approximately $150,000 in 1 year to smuggle cell phones to inmates.

The cell phone problem is not limited to California. Maryland, Kansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are just some of the states that have reported serious incidents coordinated by an inmate with a cell phone.

In Maryland, an inmate used a cell phone from jail to order the assassination of a witness testifying against him.

In Tennessee, a corrections officer was killed as a result of an inmate using a cell phone to plan an escape.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Dora Schriro told my office, and I agree that cell phones in prison are ``a more serious threat than drugs or other contraband.''

The problem in our Nation's Federal prisons is no better. In 2008, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confiscated 1,519 phones from Federal prison camps and 255 cell phones from secure Federal institutions. I expect that these numbers will continue to increase unless we take proactive steps to stop the problem.

In July, I became a cosponsor of the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009, authored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. This bill would enable state and Federal prisons to petition the Federal Communications Commission and request to operate a wireless jamming device to block inmates from using cell phones to conduct criminal business from inside prison walls. Before granting permission, the FCC would have to first determine whether the jammer would interfere with emergency or public safety communications outside of the prison walls.

If enacted, the bill will provide another necessary tool in the effort to ensure that the growing problem of cell phones in prison does not turn into an epidemic. It is my hope that this will serve as a strong deterrent to those who would profit from smuggling cell phones and other wireless devices into our Federal prisons.

Our Federal prisons house some of the most dangerous criminals in our Nation. Cell phones allow prisoners to traffic drugs and carry out murders from within our prisons and that is unacceptable.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2009. This bill would close a loophole that currently exists in Federal law by prohibiting the possession of cell phones and other wireless devices by prisoners in Federal facilities.

Currently, cell phones found in prisons are not specifically defined as contraband material. As a result, guards and inmates found smuggling or in possession of a cell phone in a Federal prison are rarely punished.

This bill would close this loophole by defining cell phones as contraband material under Federal law. As a result, any person smuggling or in possession of a cell phone could potentially serve up to a year in prison.

A cell phone should never be in the hands of a prisoner. The presence of these cell phones poses a grave safety concern for staff, inmates, and the public. We know that inmates use these phones to conduct criminal business outside of prison walls, including directing gang hits, controlling drug trafficking operations and even conducting credit card fraud. Corrections departments across the country are reporting a sharp increase in the number of cell phones being smuggled into prison facilities.

In May, California Inspector General David Shaw released a report on inmate cell phone use in California state prisons. The report found that cell phone seizures have increased tenfold in two years--from 261 in 2006 to 2,811 in 2008. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, cell phone and electronic communication device possession, ``is one of the most significant problems facing the Department today.''

So far this year, authorities have discovered over 4,000 cell phones among inmates in California prisons. There are presumably thousands more that were not discovered. Smugglers receive hundreds of dollars for each cell phone and more money if the cell phone contains a camera.

Staff members who smuggle cell phones for inmates often receive more in compensation for the contraband phones than they do from their paychecks. The California Inspector General's report on inmate cell phone use found that inmates pay $500 to $1,000 per cell phone and noted that one corrupt correctional officer received approximately $150,000 in 1 year to smuggle cell phones to inmates.

The cell phone problem is not limited to California. Maryland, Kansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are just some of the states that have reported serious incidents coordinated by an inmate with a cell phone.

In Maryland, an inmate used a cell phone from jail to order the assassination of a witness testifying against him.

In Tennessee, a corrections officer was killed as a result of an inmate using a cell phone to plan an escape.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Dora Schriro told my office, and I agree that cell phones in prison are ``a more serious threat than drugs or other contraband.''

The problem in our Nation's Federal prisons is no better. In 2008, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confiscated 1,519 phones from Federal prison camps and 255 cell phones from secure Federal institutions. I expect that these numbers will continue to increase unless we take proactive steps to stop the problem.

In July, I became a cosponsor of the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009, authored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. This bill would enable state and Federal prisons to petition the Federal Communications Commission and request to operate a wireless jamming device to block inmates from using cell phones to conduct criminal business from inside prison walls. Before granting permission, the FCC would have to first determine whether the jammer would interfere with emergency or public safety communications outside of the prison walls.

If enacted, the bill will provide another necessary tool in the effort to ensure that the growing problem of cell phones in prison does not turn into an epidemic. It is my hope that this will serve as a strong deterrent to those who would profit from smuggling cell phones and other wireless devices into our Federal prisons.

Our Federal prisons house some of the most dangerous criminals in our Nation. Cell phones allow prisoners to traffic drugs and carry out murders from within our prisons and that is unacceptable.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The use of illegal cell phones by prisoners is on the rise. In California, for example, news stories report that the number of cell phones confiscated in prisons doubled from 2007 to 2008. In 2008, over 2,800 cell phones were found in California, but more than 2,800 were found just in the first 6 months of 2009. The Alabama Department of Corrections found more than 3,000 cell phones in 2009. In fact, there were more cell phones than any other type of contraband found in all of Alabama prisons.

Other State prison systems are experiencing the same increase in the number of contraband cell phones. As a result, many States are considering legislation that specifically prohibits prisoners from possessing cell phones in State prisons.

S. 1749 takes a step in the same direction at the Federal level. S. 1749, the Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010, does two things. First, the bill makes it a crime for Federal prisoners to possess cell phones. Second, the bill directs the GAO to study the cost and use of landlines and smuggled cell phones in Federal and selected State prisons and jails.

This legislation is timely. Inmates use smuggled cell phones to coordinate drug deals on the outside, also, gang violence and other crimes, all committed outside the prison by use of smuggled cell phones to coordinate this activity that are used in the prison system.

Last year, an inmate in Maryland was accused of using a cell phone to arrange a murder of a witness who had testified against him at a trial. And in 2008, a condemned murderer on death row in my home State of Texas used a smuggled cell phone to threaten a State senator. That State senator happened to be the chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee in the State senate. Since that time, at least nine death row inmates in Texas were found to be in possession of contraband cell phones.

I don't personally think that inmates should have such open access to cell phones at all in State prisons.

To get more data on this issue, S. 1749 directs the General Accountability Office, or the GAO, to study the costs and revenues associated with the operation of landline telephones in the prison system. The study will examine select State and Federal efforts to prevent the smuggling of cell phones and other wireless devices into prisons, including efforts made to minimize trafficking of cell phones by prison guards, who are the number one source of getting cell phones in the penitentiary, and also other officials.

News stories report that prison guards are a major means in which cell phones are smuggled into prison, and prisoners pay anywhere from $300 for a normal cell phone and up to $1,000 for the smartphone. A prison guard in California made $100,000 just dealing in cell phones in the penitentiary.

It's my hope and expectation that the GAO study will help Congress and the States in the effort to combat the smuggling of cell phones into penitentiaries.

I support S. 1749. I'm also a cosponsor of another piece of legislation dealing with this specific issue, H.R. 560, the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009. This was introduced by my colleague from the Woodlands, Texas, area, Kevin Brady. This bill would allow the State or the Federal Bureau of Prisons to petition the FCC to permit them to use devices that jam cell phone signals within the prison boundary. Prisoners would then have no use for a smuggled cell phone as they would not work within the prison confinement. Along with making cell phone possession a crime, I believe Congress should also look at Mr. Brady's bill, H.R. 560, as a way to prevent the use of cell phones in the penitentiary.

I urge all Members to support S. 1749.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1749) to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the possession or use of cell phones and similar wireless devices by Federal prisoners, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010 will address an ongoing problem of cell phones being smuggled into prisons by visitors and prison guards. Prison inmate cell phone accessibility has resulted in offenders facilitating and committing crimes with the use of the cell phones. Gangs have also become far more organized because members in prison have cell phone access.

S. 1749 amends Federal law to make cell phones and similar devices contraband that Federal prisoners are prohibited from possessing. Some have argued that cell phone smuggling is a direct reaction to the outrageous costs inmates and their families pay for telephone calls while a person is incarcerated. Prisons and jails require that inmates call their families collect or pay for calls with their prison accounts. And, indeed, phone companies charge much more for calls from prisons than

they charge for calls made from outside prison. For example, one organization found that a 15-minute collect call made from San Quentin Prison to Oakland, both in California, would cost $5; whereas, the same collect call made from outside the prison would be about $2.55. That's for a collect call. It would be even cheaper if a reliable way were established for inmates to pay for their own calls.

S. 1749 requires the GAO to study the issue of exorbitant prison telephone rates and the gulf between those rates as the first step to finally bringing those rates down to reasonable levels so that inmates and their families have a much easier time staying in touch. In addition, the study will look at State and Federal efforts to prevent smuggling of cell phones into prisons and jails.

Although we should not allow prisoners to have access to cell phones while incarcerated, it is appropriate to provide them with telephone service at reasonable rates in order for them to maintain ties with their families and children.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Cell Phone Contraband Act.

The illegal use of wireless phones in prisons is a serious problem. Smuggled cell phones are used by prisoners to maintain connections with their criminal enterprises beyond prison walls and even to commit crimes from within prison.

A recent Washington Post article reported the following incidents:

A drug dealer behind bars in Maryland used a phone to arrange to have a witness assassinated outside his home last summer.

In Kansas, a convicted killer sneaked out of prison after planning the 2006 escape using a cell phone smuggled by an accomplice. The following year, two inmates escaped another Kansas prison with the help of a former guard and a smuggled cell phone.

California prison officials confiscated about 2,800 cell phones statewide in 2008, double the number discovered the year before.

The Cell Phone Contraband Act makes it a crime for Federal prisoners to possess cell phones while incarcerated. The bill also directs the GAO to study the cost and use of landlines and smuggled cell phones in Federal and selected State prisons and jails. The study will additionally examine selected State and Federal efforts to prevent the smuggling of cell phones and other wireless devices into prisons, including efforts made to minimize trafficking of cell phones by prison guards and other officials.

This is a commonsense bill to ensure that when criminals are locked up, their ability to harm citizens is completely cut off. This legislation will send a strong signal to those that either smuggle or receive contraband cell phones that they will be held accountable.