Smuggled cellphones a problem in North Texas county jails

By Alex Branch

abranch@star-telegram.com

Smuggled cellphones are not only finding their way to Texas prison inmates, but also to offenders locked in North Texas county jails.

Jail officials in Tarrant, Denton and Johnson counties say they have seized cellphones from prisoners despite measures to keep them out.

The security risks created by cellphones were highlighted this week with news reports that an inmate who escaped this month from a Beaumont prison may have used a cellphone to plot with someone on the outside.

He may also have used the phone's Internet service to communicate with others on his Facebook page.

Johnson County jailers have caught prisoners trying to use cellphones to plan escapes or maintain drug operations outside the jail, Sheriff Bob Alford said.

"We've caught people trying to come in with them, and we've caught inmates with them," Alford said.

"It's something you just have to deal with these days."

Cellphones in state prisons became a source of controversy in 2008 after a systemwide search uncovered 100 mobile devices. One inmate was accused of using a smuggled phone to call and threaten state Sen. John Whitmire, who has been outspoken about the problem.

In response to the recent escape, prison officials are looking into technology that would allow them to locate cellphone signals inside the prison, said Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

"We're going to allow some vendors to showcase technology that could hopefully aid us," she said.

Texas is not the only state grappling with the issue. Last year, notorious cult leader Charles Manson was discovered to have a flip phone hidden under his mattress in a California prison.

Smuggled in

Cellphone smuggling seems to be on a smaller scale in county jails. One reason, officials say, is that county jails tend to give more phone privileges than state prisons, though some jails record phone conversations.

Tarrant County officials say they have seized three or four cellphones in recent years and found evidence of others.

"If a prisoner gets wind that you're on to them, they'll break the phone and try to flush it piece by piece down the toilet," said Chief Deputy Bob Knowles of the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. "If we find enough pieces, it becomes pretty clear they've had a phone."

Cellphones began showing up as they became cheaper and smaller, officials said. Most found on prisoners are believed to be smuggled in by someone from the outside. Most prisoners have been searched multiple times when they enter a county jail.

Contracted commissary workers, medical staff and food vendors are among those who have been caught giving phones to prisoners. Jailers get caught, too. Last summer, two Denton County jailers were arrested and accused of slipping a prisoner a cellphone and charger. In exchange, one of the jailers was allegedly given a laptop by an associate of the prisoner.

Smartphone worries

The emergence of smartphones has raised concerns that prisoners could plan escapes or criminal acts. On a smartphone, prisoners could view maps or examine photographs, as well as communicate electronically.

Access to that information is one reason prisoners are often only allowed to view websites with law information in jail computer labs.

So far, most prisoners with phones don't have iPhones or Androids, officials said. Most seized phones are cheap, prepaid brands that can become worthless when their battery drains because prisoners often have no place to discreetly charge them.

"We fight every day to keep contraband -- tobacco, drugs and phones -- out of the jail," said Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. "This is just another thing you have to watch out for."

Alex Branch, 817-390-7689

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