By Lieutenant Christopher Patterson
Technology is running amok in our prisons and jails. New technologies that help skirt the system are accessible like never before. Correctional officers must keep up or be mowed over. Each of us is trained to look for certain signs while we conduct our tours of duty. We are educated about inmate manipulation and we hope it will never happen to us.
There is a new and potentially dangerous product being introduced to the U.S. market that could send the correctional system back to the Stone Age. This little device is called a Magicjack. One of these and a broadband connection are all an inmate needs to wreak havoc.
How it works
The Magicjack costs $29.95, and gives free local and long-distance calling within the continental United States as well as Canada. It also offers free 411 and 911 access, free caller ID and a free answering service. The first time you plug the device in the computers USB port a phone number is chosen. You are able to pick a number from most any area in the country.
This means that you may live in Florida, but the number you select could be a New York City prefix, so when you (or an inmate) calls someone, the recipient’s caller ID will say the call is coming from the Big Apple.
This would be great little gadget for an inmate who wants to make threatening calls to a victim over the phone. The unsuspecting victim will see a call coming in from, say, Seattle — only to find out it is actually the man who victimized him or her. Given that scenario, the victim might jump to the logical conclusion that the perpetrator is out of prison.
The device is small enough to be hidden anywhere, and at the price they are charging, an inmate could have many of them to ensure that if one is found through a routine search, he has a couple more stashed so he can continue making his calls.
Red flags
I work as a lieutenant in a correctional mental health prison for the third largest prison system in the United States. The Florida prison system is diverse in its mission and is on the cutting-edge for training correctional staff.
When I saw the infomercial about for Magicjack, it raised several red flags. I knew immediately this device would infiltrate many prison systems, with potentially far-reaching and dire consequences: It could give unmonitored telephone access to the inmate population. It’s new and unrecognizable enough to be easily smuggled in by an outside source, including staff members.
Let’s take a look at a few possible scenarios and the dangers each one brings with it:
Scenario 1
An inmate’s family member brings one of these in during visitation and the inmate is able to get it pass the check out process. He now has this item in the housing unit, and if the inmate can gain access to a computer with internet capability, he can make unmonitored phone calls to whomever he wants. Not only could he call friends and family, but he can now call his victims to harass or hinder them.
Most correctional facilities use some sort of system that will notify the one answering the phone that the call is from a penal setting, and will allow the person on the receiving end to accept or refuse the call. This device will circumvent this feature, and the unsuspecting person will have no idea the call is from a prison/jail until he/she is on the line with the inmate.
Scenario 2
A staff member brings this device in so they can make calls from within the facility in order to get around the security system that monitors outgoing staff calls. This could potentially lower staff productivity, but more critically, it could lead to an inmate seeing the device, and subsequently threatening the staff member with disclosure of his wrongdoing unless the inmate is allowed access to the Magicjack. If the staff member is afraid of being caught and disciplined, he might choose to let the inmate use the device; now we’re back to some of the same problems as stated in Scenario 1.
Scenario 3
A staff member views the infomercial on television and sees it as an opportunity to subsidize his income. He purchases one of these devices and brings it in. He lets certain inmates know that he can give them access to unmonitored telephone usage. He also charges the inmates for this usage. He could be receiving monetary funds from the inmates or from an outside source. The inmates’ access to this device could mean an increase of contraband flowing into and out of the facility. An outside source of funds would mean a staff member would have contact with inmate family members and friends.
The scenarios and possibilities are endless. This device could possible change an entire department’s policy and procedure requirements. The tracking of the device being used may or may not be a part of the departments OIT service. If not, the budgetary requirements to bring a department up to the capability of tracking a device such as this could be costly, or worse yet, impossible.
Knowing about this device is the first step to eradicating it. I urge each of you reading this article to bring it to the attention of your administration as well as your OIT department. Knowledge is power, and if we as correctional personnel are aware of the ramifications of the Magicjack, it could possibly thwart criminal intimidation and actions from inside the walls.
Learn more about the product at www.MagicJack.com
About the author
Christopher Patterson is a Lieutenant with the Zephyrhills Correctional Institution’s Correctional Mental Heath Unit, Florida Department of Corrections.