the independent on mobile phones in prisons.

Junco Partner

i was reading the independent on my fag break during work tonight and there was a piece on organised crime. One of the points was how the criminals can continue to run their empires from behind bars because of smuggled phones.

I wa reading this and a thought occured to me. This is a problem that is regulary in the paper when crime is discussed. Would signal jammers in the prisons not be the obvious solution.
Now i'm just a humble underclass young male so i am probably missing an obvious reason why this would not work.perhaps jammers are appalingly expensive. or such a short ranged signals are not possible and surrounding areas would be effected.
but would short ranged signal jammers on the premises not work?

perhaps it's too simple to work.

Sunnyisland

As far as I know it was to problematic to enforce the mobile phone blocking,especially as our prisons are near public areas,There was a pilot scheme attempt in Portlaoise but it was effecting the nearby hospital.And as mobile phone technology evolves almost weekly so does the problems of blocking there usage,imo.

It would make more sense to install "femtocells" to intercept the (internal) mobile signals and then direct them to >NUL
Devices such as this

These would only affect users closest to the inside walls of the prison, outside users would be out of range of these devices and not affected.

M cebee

Deleted User wrote: »

It would make more sense to install "femtocells" to intercept the (internal) mobile signals and then direct them to >NUL
Devices such as this

These would only affect users closest to the inside walls of the prison, outside users would be out of range of these devices and not affected.

would that work?

Solair

The problem is that a lot of the prisons, especially say the likes of Arbour Hill, Mountjoy or Cork Prison are right on top of residential areas.

Doing anything like that could result in loss of service to neighbouring homes.

If the prison were surrounded by a clear area of parkland or something, you could do it easily enough, but not in an urban context.

What you could do however, is install a network of radio monitors around the prison itself and pick up any GSM/UMTS signals and then conduct targeted searches.

Hootanany

Or line all the cells with lead.:cool:

Sunnyisland

But are mobile cell phones not made to be used in prisons :-)

M cebee

M cebee wrote: »

would that work?

yes, the mobile (cell) phone signal hits the femtocell first, the cell can then instruct the mobile network not to carry the signal = one dead phone!

The signal strength of the femtocells is so weak that it'll only work "within these walls"

Feathers

While they're at it, the government should legalise signal lockers in cinemas, theatres, restaurants, etc. so long as people are notified.

tallaghtmick

They should move the prison to where I work,cant get any signal at all:mad:

M cebee

Deleted User wrote: »

yes, the mobile (cell) phone signal hits the femtocell first, the cell can then instruct the mobile network not to carry the signal = one dead phone!

The signal strength of the femtocells is so weak that it'll only work "within these walls"

does anyone in government know about this then?
i know they tried blocking before

seems like a no-brainer considering the havoc mobile use in prison causes on the outside

Solair

Feathers wrote: »

While they're at it, the government should legalise signal lockers in cinemas, theatres, restaurants, etc. so long as people are notified.

That's going way too far.

If cinemas simply put an usher in place, they would solve those problems rather quickly. People are paying enough for their tickets.
Block signals in that kind of environment simply creates problems for neighbouring buildings.

As for restaurants etc. That's really going over the top.

Radio signals do not respect property boundaries and those venues are almost always in densely populated areas.

If someone takes a call in a cinema / theatre they should be asked to leave. End of.
Same goes for having a chat with your friends, throwing food, or generally being disruptive. People pay enough for those tickets without having to put up with nonsense.

The problem in prisons is a very specific, and very serious one from a public safety point of view.

I would advocate something like this:

Anyone who is likely to be directing crime in a prison should be put in a secure unit in a prison where mobile blocking could be done without causing interference to neighbours. There must be one that stands out in a field somewhere. They're not all in built-up areas.

You can also construct buildings that will make mobile reception difficult / impossible. Just use grounded, foil lining in the walls. Some modern, energy-efficient buildings that used foil insulation do this accidentally already!

A cinema for example, could block mobile reception in the screens by lining the walls with a grounded metallic mesh, narrow enough for the signals you want to block. You would then have almost zero reception in the cinema itself, with a totally passive system without interfering with anyone's networks and totally legally. You just create a Faraday cage.

Perhaps that solution could be applied to specific blocks in urban prisons?
Construction jobs in it too!