Superintendent of Her Majesty s Prisons Dr Elliston Rahming

Published On:Wednesday, June 23, 2010

By NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

THE Prison Department is reviewing bids submitted by cell phone jamming specialists in an open tender process, said Dr Elliston Rahming, Superintendent of Prisons.

Once a service provider is selected, the prison intends to use the technology to block the illegal use of cell phones.

"Like prisons everywhere around the world, we are challenged by the importation of cellular phones. There are clearly too many that come in - one cell phone is too many - and it is my resolve to bring those numbers to an irreducible minimum. But failing that we will jam them, including my phone," said Dr Rahming.

Last month the prison acquired six service dogs including attack dogs, drug sniffing dogs and cell phone sniffing dogs.

Prisoners use cell phones to alert criminal counterparts on the outside of upcoming court dates and thereby arrange for the intimidation of witnesses, according to Leslie Campbell from the Jamaica Department of Correctional Services. He said, "Cell phones are rampant in every corner of the prison in Jamaica", and corrupt prison officers bring them in.

Dr Rahming said the Jamaican experience is applicable to the Bahamas. "Once they get use of the cell phones (they use them for) whatever use they can imagine, whatever needs they can fulfill," he said.

The Prison Act states that communication between inmates and outsiders must be made within the "sight and sound" of an officer. If an inmate uses a cell phone, he or she is in violation of the Prison Act.

As for prison officers, it is against regulations for all guards to have cell phones within the living confines of inmates.

There are many criminal uses prisoners find for cell phones, according to Howard Melamed, president of Cell Antenna, a US-based company specialising in cell phone jamming technology. Mr Melamed was a presenter at the forth annual conference of the Association of Caribbean Heads of Corrections and Prison Services (ACHCPS), presently underway in the Bahamas.

He said prisoners can operate cell phones as servers, and conduct business online. When they have access to credit cards, he said they order products and have them sent to the prison as gifts. He said they also use cell phones to intimidate witnesses, and to operate gambling, extortion and prostitution rings on the outside.

There are examples of prisoners charged with rape, using their cell phones to "constantly harass" victims by making repeated late night phone calls and sending text messages, said Mr Melamed.

One prisoner, who had under two years left to serve on his sentence, continued to operate as a pimp from inside the prison.

He used the money collected to "buy drugs and other services" inside the prison, he said.

In his experience, Mr Melamed said, the few prison officers who are involved in trafficking cell phones into prisons hide it from authorities and are disciplined once they are discovered. However, he said every one has a price, and prisons should implement regulations to reduce the possibility of officers being corrupted.

"No guard should have a cell phone. It is too much of a sweet habit, worse than cocaine. Selling cell phones in prison can turn some of the best. You don't want it to be something they think of," said Mr Melamed.

"Everyone has the same problems. The politicians only get on the bandwagon when something happens," he said.

Dr Rahming said he suspected a cell phone jamming system would also be "tremendously relevant" to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, recalling an incident where a former prison officer called him while being detained there.

He said the former employee was detained by immigration officials and scheduled for deportation to Jamaica. He said he got a call early in the morning from the former employee asking for help. "I asked, how are you calling me? She said someone down here has a cell phone".

He said the incident revealed the problem extended beyond the prison into other security agencies.

A cell phone jamming device was purchased over four years ago; however that device was a military unit and knocked out cell phones from Yamacraw to Sea Breeze.

Despite attempts to recalibrate the device, it had to be discarded.

Dr Rahming said the prison is trying to get "a more circuital system to be contained within the prison environment".