Mobile phones usage in places of detention.

buddhi

Greetings folks,

I wonder if anyone knows why the likes of Faraday cage lining http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Cage
is not used in the places of detention to jam mobile and radio signals?


Regards,

Buddhi

seamus

I'm guessing it would cause other problems, most notably using two-way radio between the building and the outside.

A more complex system could be built which involved masts inside the building, masts on the outside, all hardwired into a network, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It could all be solved if vistors were properly searched and made to surrender certain items (phones, lighters, cigarettes, etc) before entering.

buddhi

It could all be solved if visitors were properly searched and made to surrender certain items

What about some, perhaps small percentage but still there, prison officers smuggling mobiles and other items in?

Three prison officers are being questioned as part of an investigation into the smuggling of contraband into prisons.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0315/prison.html


Regards,

Buddhi

Not sure where this thread belongs but I'll try humanities.
It might also be a science issue.

Executive Steve

why on earth wouldn't you let prisoners have a mobile phone though?

seamus

[cm]tyranny wrote:

why on earth wouldn't you let prisoners have a mobile phone though?

At a base level, it's a luxury, a freedom. One point of prison is to curtail the prisoners' freedoms as much as human rights legislation will allow.

At a more practical level, with a mobile phone a prisoner can continue to conduct their criminal activities from within the prison. It gives them unlimited reign to contact their associates and be contacted. It also gives them the power to manage their bank accounts whenever they want. It also allows to otherwise separated prisoners to contact eachother within the prison walls and co-ordinate their activities.

prof_frink_2000

you don't need a faraday's cage all you need is to set up a pico cell in the prison. The pico cell will pick up all the mobile phones in the prison. A simple access list enabled on the cell will block all except staff phones. The reason it isn't done is because the governments don't want to pay for the equipment. Pico cells already exist in lots of supermarkets to handle the call capacity.