By Ann Keil
FOX59
PENDLETON, Ind. — In an effort to protect you and your loved ones from scam artists, the Indiana Department of Corrections is taking action at its facilities including the Pendleton Correctional facility where up to seven banned cell phones are recovered a week.
Some of the inmates who had the phones in their possession have used the technology to try to scam innocent people in Indiana and across the country.
“There is still 50 to 100 cell phones inside the facility that have not been found,” said Tom Francum, Pendleton Correctional Facility Chief of Internal Affairs.
He said the cell phones make it past the metal detectors, 30-foot high exterior walls and barbed wire, through prison staff and visitors.
“That’s their entertainment, that’s their contact with the outside World, and that’s how they run their criminal enterprise,” said Detective Robert May with Indiana State Police.
He is assigned to the prison full-time.
May compares the inmates to telemarketers.”They just make phone calls, constant phone calls.”
Full story: Indiana inmates scamming innocent people using banned cell phones