Surprisingly, the column I wrote a few weeks ago about prison inmates with cell phones generated more comments, by far, than most of my columns. I received e-mails, letters and phone calls from folks all over the country. There were some who praised the column and others who were not happy.
When one writer ended his e-mail message I thought I was part of a Jack Nicholson/Tom Cruise movie. He wrote, “Obviously, you can”t handle the truth.” To my knowledge, I did not receive any calls from inmates who had dialed in on their cell phone.
I found it personally pleasing that USA Today, the largest circulation newspaper in the country, ran a story about the national inmate cell phone problem two weeks after my column ran. Their headline reported, “Smuggled cell phones flourish in prisons”.
At first, the contacts I received were evenly divided between inmates and corrections officers. But, as time went by the balance shifted. I suppose corrections officers were sending the column to their friends in the business. I heard from a number of upset prison guards who felt that I had been unfair to them.
And, while there are incidents on record to prove that guards have been responsible for supplying cell phones to inmates, I may have been too harsh on the corrections officers as a group.
I stated that the inmate cell phone problem ” unmasks the more egregious problem of correctional officer greed and corruption.” I got an e-mail from a California inmate or inmate supporter who wrote that I was right on target. The information I had while writing the column indicated that corrections officers are definitely one source for the cell phones.
I have some e-mails from corrections officers from around the country who admitted there is the occasional corrupt guard who will sell contraband items to inmates. I received a call from a California prison system investigator, though, that led me to believe that guards are not the primary supplier of cell phones.
The USA Today article focused more on inmate visitors as the source and the story even mentioned an elaborate system at one penitentiary in South Carolina where gang member friends of inmates were using a homemade launcher to heave cell phones and drugs over the prison wall to an area that inmates could access.
The investigator who called me was clear that phones are more often smuggled in by prison employees, than by inmate visitors, but, he said it isn”t usually a corrections officer. He swears that prison support staff members are the ones who usually make deals to provide prisoners with items they can”t legally have.
There are situations where inmates have the opportunity to connect with prison employees who are not guards. The investigator described one situation to me in which a prison chapel employee was caught sneaking a cell phone to an inmate.
More than one California corrections officer made the same point to me. They told me they are paid quite well for the dangerous and stressful work they perform and that a guard would have to be pretty stupid to risk it all to make a few extra bucks selling contraband to inmates.
So, to the loyal and dedicated corrections officers I offended, I apologize. It”s too bad there are a few bad apples that hurt the image of many. That is an often repeated scenario in our society.
My goal in writing the original column was two-fold. First, I wanted to let people know there is an inmate cell phone problem in U.S. prisons. Next, that it appeared the problem was being fueled by the very people responsible for preventing it.
The issue still appears to be a problem that is mostly an internal prison matter, but, at least the guards, the people charged with the job of confiscating contraband, are not usually the ones selling it and making a profit.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. He can be reached at gdickson@record-bee.com or called direct at 263-5636 ext. 24.
