[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23804]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             FEDERAL TELEPHONE ABUSE REDUCTION ACT OF 1999

  (Mrs. BIGGERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, a report released in August by the 
Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General revealed 
hundreds of cases in which Federal inmates used prison telephones to 
commit serious crimes, including murder, drug trafficking, witness 
tampering, and fraud.
  Although the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been aware of this problem 
for some time, it has not taken sufficient steps to address the abuse 
of Federal prison telephone systems.
  To help the Bureau undertake immediate and meaningful action to 
correct these problems, I am introducing the Federal telephone abuse 
reduction act. My bill requires the Bureau of Prisons to implement 
changes to efficiently target and increase the monitoring of inmate 
conversations. It will also refocus officers to detect and deter crimes 
committed by inmates using Federal telephones.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in squarely addressing what appears 
to be widespread inmate abuse of prison telephones and cosponsor the 
Federal telephone abuse reduction act.

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