Jul 9, 2008 5:57 pm US/Eastern
Md. Prisons Have New Plan To Keep Cell Phones Out
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
In recent months, state and federal prosecutors have publicly complained about the rampant use of cell phones by inmates at state prisons. In at least one incident in Baltimore, a cell phone was used to order a murder of a witness.
Now, as
Mike Schuh reports, state prison officials trotted out their newest weapon.
There are only a few dogs in the world trained to find cell phones. We can't detect it, but a cell phone gives off just enough of a unique scent to be detected by a dog. The dogs won't be assigned to any one facility but will move through the 20 in Maryland.
"I think we got the attention of inmates," said DOC Commissioner J. Michael Stouffer.
"Everything has its own unique scent signature. That's what makes it possible for a bloodhound to track one person in a crowd of people," said Major Peter Anderson.
In Baltimore, people on the street have just thrown a cell phone over a fence, but in a recent experiment, staff was found to be one pipeline.
There have been 10 disciplinary actions, three suspensions, three resignations and two firings, according to Stouffer.
"For the DOC, it's about change--change in the way we think [and] change in the way we do business," Stouffer said.
A new Maryland state law makes it a crime for a prison guard or worker to smuggle a cell phone into prison.
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