[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 142 (Monday, October 5, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S10112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. Grassley):
  S. 1749. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 
the possession or use of cell phones and similar wireless devices by 
Federal prisoners; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the 
Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2009. This bill would close a loophole 
that currently exists in Federal law by prohibiting the possession of 
cell phones and other wireless devices by prisoners in Federal 
facilities.
  Currently, cell phones found in prisons are not specifically defined 
as contraband material. As a result, guards and inmates found smuggling 
or in possession of a cell phone in a Federal prison are rarely 
punished.
  This bill would close this loophole by defining cell phones as 
contraband material under Federal law. As a result, any person 
smuggling or in possession of a cell phone could potentially serve up 
to a year in prison.
  A cell phone should never be in the hands of a prisoner. The presence 
of these cell phones poses a grave safety concern for staff, inmates, 
and the public. We know that inmates use these phones to conduct 
criminal business outside of prison walls, including directing gang 
hits, controlling drug trafficking operations and even conducting 
credit card fraud. Corrections departments across the country are 
reporting a sharp increase in the number of cell phones being smuggled 
into prison facilities.
  In May, California Inspector General David Shaw released a report on 
inmate cell phone use in California state prisons. The report found 
that cell phone seizures have increased tenfold in two years--from 261 
in 2006 to 2,811 in 2008. According to the California Department of 
Corrections and Rehabilitation, cell phone and electronic communication 
device possession, ``is one of the most significant problems facing the 
Department today.''
  So far this year, authorities have discovered over 4,000 cell phones 
among inmates in California prisons. There are presumably thousands 
more that were not discovered. Smugglers receive hundreds of dollars 
for each cell phone and more money if the cell phone contains a camera.
  Staff members who smuggle cell phones for inmates often receive more 
in compensation for the contraband phones than they do from their 
paychecks. The California Inspector General's report on inmate cell 
phone use found that inmates pay $500 to $1,000 per cell phone and 
noted that one corrupt correctional officer received approximately 
$150,000 in 1 year to smuggle cell phones to inmates.
  The cell phone problem is not limited to California. Maryland, 
Kansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas 
are just some of the states that have reported serious incidents 
coordinated by an inmate with a cell phone.
  In Maryland, an inmate used a cell phone from jail to order the 
assassination of a witness testifying against him.
  In Tennessee, a corrections officer was killed as a result of an 
inmate using a cell phone to plan an escape.
  Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Dora Schriro told 
my office, and I agree that cell phones in prison are ``a more serious 
threat than drugs or other contraband.''
  The problem in our Nation's Federal prisons is no better. In 2008, 
the Federal Bureau of Prisons confiscated 1,519 phones from Federal 
prison camps and 255 cell phones from secure Federal institutions. I 
expect that these numbers will continue to increase unless we take 
proactive steps to stop the problem.
  In July, I became a cosponsor of the Safe Prisons Communications Act 
of 2009, authored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. This bill would 
enable state and Federal prisons to petition the Federal Communications 
Commission and request to operate a wireless jamming device to block 
inmates from using cell phones to conduct criminal business from inside 
prison walls. Before granting permission, the FCC would have to first 
determine whether the jammer would interfere with emergency or public 
safety communications outside of the prison walls.
  If enacted, the bill will provide another necessary tool in the 
effort to ensure that the growing problem of cell phones in prison does 
not turn into an epidemic. It is my hope that this will serve as a 
strong deterrent to those who would profit from smuggling cell phones 
and other wireless devices into our Federal prisons.
  Our Federal prisons house some of the most dangerous criminals in our 
Nation. Cell phones allow prisoners to traffic drugs and carry out 
murders from within our prisons and that is unacceptable.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1749

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Cell Phone Contraband Act of 
     2009''.

     SEC. 2. WIRELESS DEVICES IN PRISON.

       Section 1971 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (b)--
       (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ``or (d)(1)(E)'' and 
     inserting ``, (d)(1)(E), or (d)(1)(F)''; and
       (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ``(d)(1)(F)'' and 
     inserting ``(d)(1)(G)''; and
       (2) in subsection (d)(1)--
       (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G); 
     and
       (C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
       ``(F) a phone or other device used by a user of commercial 
     mobile service (as defined in section 332(d) of the 
     Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d))) in connection 
     with such service; and''.

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