The New Yorker Has a Laugh Over Cell Phone Sniffing Dogs In Prison | PEEK

The New Yorker Has a Laugh Over Cell Phone Sniffing Dogs In Prison

Posted by Just A Guy, Prisonmovement at 7:15 AM on October 30, 2009.

The vast majority of prisoners using cell phones are just tying to stay connected to family, friends and loved ones.

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Shame on Ian Frazier and The New Yorker.

Frazier is a writer for that bastion of liberal magazines, and he published an article (puff piece) about cell-phone sniffing dogs in the New Jersey correctional system.

No, it’s not really a puff piece -- “puff pieces” generally don’t have a deleterious affect on people or segments of society, as Frazier’s piece does on inmates throughout the country.

The piece does a great job of allowing New Jersey corrections officials to laud their own efforts to overthrow that most evil beast, the cell phone in prison. The piece goes on to report about New Jersey corrections training its own dogs on how to sniff out cell phones, and the wonderful results of that training, which is the seizure of more than 130 cell phones from us dastardly, evil inmates.

New Jersey corrections ballyhoos itself quite well about how much the agency is saving over states like California, which has contracted cell phone sniffers to come in at exorbitant rates, depleting our already woefully depleted budget. At least the New Jersey corrections folks got something right.

The corrections agency goes on to say how dangerous and threatening all us inmates are with cell phones, how it’s pretty much only gang members and drug dealers who purchase the phones and call out hits on unsuspecting witnesses and victims.

The puff piece, uh, I mean, article, quotes a staff member/trainer who doesn't want to say what the dogs smell while sniffing for the phones but says it’s something organic.

I say, boink. Lets think about what’s in a cell phone that’s not in a TV or radio -- and that’s organic. Wow, tough one ….

And behind door number one we have the lithium ion battery! Lithium batteries use an organic alkali. Smell your battery, people; it has it’s own distinct and somewhat earthy scent. But I am no scientist and am purely guessing.

Shame on Frazier for not finding out the answers to some key questions -- and shame on the editorial staff of The New Yorker for not pushing Frazier to ask some of these questions:

1. How much does it cost an inmate in New Jersey to make a collect call?

2. How often are inmates allowed to make phone calls?

3. Are the visitors really the main way cells phones are coming in? And how do the inmates deposit cell phones and chargers into their body cavities in the visiting room anyway? (They must have lax visiting standards in New Jersey).

4. How much does a cell phone cost an inmate in New Jersey?

If corrections departments across the country get their heads our of their asses long enough to see that they will not win the cell phone battle as long as the financial incentives are so great for their employees, they would be able to see that maybe allowing and regulating cell phones (see my previous post on this) could provide the security they are looking for.

Ninety nine percent of inmates using cell phones in prison are just tying to stay connected to family, friends and loved ones. Of course there are people doing negative shit with the phones -- but this same stuff can be done on a collect call in a letter or during a visit.

Ian Frazier and The New Yorker, I challenge you to do a real piece covering both sides of this story rather than just the side corrections wants you to hear. Give Tim Redmond a call -- you may be truly enlightened.

Sorry folks -- I had not planned on hitting the cell phone thing so soon again. But I had no choice -- someone has to voice another outlook. Too bad it’s me and not the “real” journalists like Ian Frazier.

Source: SFBG

http://www.blogsurfer.us/

Tagged as: prisons, the new yorker, cell phone sniffing dogs, ian frazier, new jersey department of

Just A Guy is an inmate in a California state prison. His dispatches run twice a week.

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A Big Thank you [Report this comment] Posted by: carolleo on Oct 30, 2009 8:20 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Thanks to Liliana for her articles on our nations prison/criminal justice system! People think they know about our system, but until they or a loved one are enmeshed-they really dont have a clue. Our system is broken and in need of major repairs..from Texas to California-we have a nation wide crisis that cannot be ignored. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] It's prison. [Report this comment] Posted by: Longdream on Oct 30, 2009 8:55 AM Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Prison is the place where criminals are cut off from their friends outside. And not everyone inside is an innocent person screwed by the system. I don't think cell phones, no matter who provides them, should be part of the fabric of prison society. There IS no way to regulate cell phone use, or keep the phones allowed to decent people who just want to speak with their families out of the hands of people running crime. This particular issue is a minor one compared to the reforms that are needed in our prisons. Decent protection from violence while inside, a choice of serious schooling to get work outside, and above all, good follow-up aftercare which helps with the issues that put people back in: housing, work, mental health follow-up and family support. And, technically, a cell phone company can pinpoint where there is cell phone activity, most especially when it knows where to look. I don't know why phone-sniffing dogs are so exorbitantly expensive, as they can be owned by a Dept. of Corrections, but assuming I accept that as fact, we can also assume that monitoring by a cell-phone company would cost more. Cell phones and internet use perhaps shouldn't be entirely forbidden. They should be added as part of a follow-up system that places men and women who are in the last years of their sentences, and who have been following a path of rehabilitation, into a less restrictive environment to experience the world before they re-enter it. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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