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Prisons do often leave prisoners more likely to commit crime than they were before they were incarcerated (there was a great article on The Atlantic last year o

Prisons do often leave prisoners more likely to commit crime than they were before they were incarcerated (there was a great article on The Atlantic last year on how ankle monitors are changing this, by keeping many non-violent prisoners from ever entering prison). However, allowing cellphone usage inside of a prison allows many convicts to run criminal networks from inside of prison walls. This makes it difficult for law enforcement to make a dent in organized crime, as incarcerating a gang's leaders doesn't prevent them from organizing further criminal activity. Non-violent criminals could arguably be given cell phones, but the potential for violent criminals to organize violent crime means that allowing violent criminals to use cell phones in prison is a dangerous proposition.

yardie 16y ago
It doesn't necessarily have to be cellphones. The reason they are so popular in prison is because of the outlandish fees to make a collect call, and in some cases, those phones are monitored. If you're choices are a collect call with $5 connection fee and $2/min and a $300 cellphone loaded with hours of calltime than it doesn't take a genius to see that the cellphone is going to win whether its for the mob boss or incarcerated shoplifter. A sensible middle ground would be to make collect calls affordable, or even free from a selected list, so that cost works against smuggling in cellphones. Until then, people are going to find more elaborate ways to reach outside. And they've got lots of time on their hands to do it.