Penitentiary security

Phone detection kit introduced in prisons

Specialist mobile detection technology is being used to detect and seize illegal phones used by prisoners, Justice Secretary David Gauke revealed today (Sunday, 21 April).

The technology is the latest weapon in the fight against phone smuggling which leads to drug-dealing and violence behind bars.

It works by sending real-time alerts when a mobile is detected in prison, shown on a digital heat map which identifies the strength of the signal. This allows prison officers to pinpoint the location of the phone down to the exact cell.

Staff can also track data over time to watch for patterns emerging, for example when inmates conspire to smuggle drugs into prison. This intelligence is analysed and in conjunction with law enforcement partners can lead to arrests.

Penitentiary security

Twenty dead in attempted breakout from Brazil prison

A number of inmates at a jail in the northern Brazilian city of Belem have died during an attempted mass breakout.

They were aided by an armed group outside the jail which used explosives against one of the prison walls.

One guard died, as well as 19 prisoners and those helping them from outside.

The fighting at the Santa Izabel Prison Complex outside Para's state capital had been as intense as in warfare, the state security service said in a statement.

Four other guards were injured, including one seriously.

The security service said the prison guards took on attackers from both inside and outside the prison.

The authorities are now trying to determine if any of the prisoners managed to escape.

Penitentiary security

Migrants Setting Blood, Faeces ‘Traps’ for Prison Staff

Language classes and the recruiting of ‘Islam scientists’ are among measures announced by North Rhine-Westphalia’s (NRW) justice ministry to combat the rising number of ‘disgust attacks’ in prisons by Maghreb migrants.

Across Germany, migrants from North Africa have been setting ‘traps’ for staff in prisons by “greasing” doors handles, floors, and other surfaces that employees are forced to touch and walk over with bodily fluids, mainly faeces and blood.

NRW has acknowledged the problem for some time, but in November the state’s justice minister Thomas Kutschaty was forced to admit the attacks have been growing more frequent.

Thirty-two cases in which “detainees from the Maghreb states have contaminated areas with blood and/or faeces” were logged in 2016. At prisons in Iserlohn and Cologne, there were even incidents in which staff members were pelted with faeces.

Penitentiary security

Will Homeland Security Continue to Use Private Prison Companies?

The Justice Department's surprise announcement Thursday that it will phase out its contracts with private prison companies sent shockwaves through the criminal justice world and private prison industry, but the bigger question is whether the decision will pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to sever its considerably larger ties with private contractors as well.

As I noted yesterday, the Justice Department's Bureau of Prisons contracts with private companies to run 13 prisons, which house about 12 percent—or 22,000 inmates—of the federal prison population, most of them foreign nationals. But private prison contractors currently run 46 U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigrant detention centers, housing about 70 percent—about 24,000 people a day on average—of the detainees held by ICE.

Penitentiary security

Prison gang targeted white guards in ‘Black August’ plan: FBI

White cops and correction officers are being targeted for death by a black prison gang in what’s being called “Black August,” according to a chilling security bulletin obtained by The Post.

The bulletin was issued by the FBI’s National Gang intelligence Center, and the warnings were passed on to city Correction officials on Aug. 5.

“The warning involves an increased risk for violence during ‘Black August,’” say a sternly worded internal memo issued to commanding officers at city jails.

Two days after the warning, a city correction officer at Rikers was beaten up and slashed by an inmate, who also pummeled a second guard. That attack was not related to the Black August threat, a Correction Department spokeswoman told The Post.

Penitentiary security

Cell Phones in Israeli Prisons – Useless for Terrorists

The Israeli prison service decided to install cell phone jammers in two prisons that are used for holding Palestinian terrorists.

Sources said today that this decision had to be made years ago. The flow of cell phones to these prisons could have never been stopped and jamming is the only way.

The Prison Jammer manages the problem of illegal cell phones in a prison or government facility.

The solutions differ in operation and design. Some Prison Jammers work to block off large areas in a building to stop cell phone calls. These Prison Jammers consist of active or reactive cell phone jammers that are installed in a pre-determined pattern.

Other Prison Jammers may be set up in a fixed design to radiate RF interference and defeat any attempt to use a mobile phone service provider’s network to make or receive calls. This would involve stationary rack-mounted RF jamming telemetry.

In spite of all efforts to stop the flow of cell phones to these prisons they are found again and again in searches.

The jamming systems will block totally the use of cell phones by the inmates.

The sources said that the cell phones are used for coordinating terror acts.