The effort to make it illegal for federal inmates to possess cell phones and other wireless devices cleared another hurdle yesterday as the House passed a revised version of a Senate bill to designate cell phones as contraband in prison.

The House passed the amended Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010 by voice vote, adding cell phones and wireless devices to the list of prohibited items inside federal prisons, including drugs, alcohol, and guns [1]. According to CQ.com (subscription only), the revisions made by the House means the bill will have to go back to the Senate for approval before making its way to the White House [2]. The Senate passed the bill (.pdf) [3], sponsored by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), in April.

Under the bill, a federal prisoner caught with a cell phone will face up to an additional year in prison while the person who smuggled the phone into prison could receive up to a year in prison as well. Currently, prison officials can confiscate cell phones smuggled into the prison but cannot prosecute the customer nor the procurer [4], reports the Associated Press.

Cell phones inside prisons have caused considerable problems across the nation. The phones have been used to commit various crimes, including murder, credit card fraud, and prison escape. In one incident nearly two years ago, Texas death row inmate Richard Tabler used a smuggled cell phone to call Texas State Senator John Whitmire [5]. Tabler told the state senator that the senator had two daughters, where they lived, plus other details.

The most shocking case of cell phone smuggling, however, occurred in July 2007, when inmate Patrick Albert Byers, Jr., allegedly used a smuggled cell phone to order the hit of Carl Lackl Jr. in Baltimore. Lackl was set to testify in Byers' murder trial. Byers now faces the death penalty [6] for his crime.

Nevertheless, the problem of contraband cell phones continues to grow because the market demand for them inside prisons is enormous. "Sen. Dianne Feinstein," according to the AP, "cited a recent report from her state that found that inmates pay from $500 to $1,000 for a phone and that one corrupt correctional officer made some $150,000 in one year by smuggling cell phones to inmates."

CTIA-The Wireless Association approved of the House vote [7]. "We strongly oppose prisoners having access to contraband phones and believe inmates, and anyone who supplies them with a device, should be severely punished," a statement released by the industry group said.

This isn't the first time Congress wrestled with the issue of contraband cell phones.

Last year, Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced a more controversial bill [8]that would allow federal and state prisons to block cell phone signals inside the facilities' walls after receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission. The bill died in a Judiciary subcommittee last year.

♦ Photo by Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline/Flickr [9]

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