Contraband – specifically the contraband that is found in correctional facilities, is defined as items or property prohibited by law from being exported or imported into prisons, which create a significant security risk to inmates and correctional officers. The introduction of illicit items into correctional facilities may facilitate escapes, compromise staff-members, and lower morale. The existence of contraband also shatters the public’s perception of security. Illegal Items include drugs, alcohol, tobacco, food, and even a cornucopia of items that can be fashioned into weapons. If inmates even have access to excessive amounts of allowed property, legal (but altered) items, money, maps, or officer uniforms, it may pose a serious risk to the security of the correctional facility. Even information can be contraband. An example might be an inmate that has obtained a staff-member's credit card information to manipulate or…show more content… With planning and work, inmates procure weapons, narcotics, loyalty, and outside help, all of which can destabilize the security of any institution.
The author, in his article, blah blah blah, indicates that cell phones are becoming the most prevalent type of contraband; plaguing America's correctional facilities. In modern prisons cell phones are being used to collaborate with gangs outside facilities, plan to commit crimes, intimidate witnesses, coordinate escape plans, and obtain more contraband.
Recently, cell phone seizures have become one of the biggest problems in correctional facilities. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 1,400 cell phones were seized in 2007, and by 2013, it had grown to over 12,000.
“When it comes to contraband, nothing is as it seems...the war on cell phones in prisons is similar to the war on drugs. There is no way to completely stop the
