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UK Prisons To Crack Down On Inmate Internet and Mobile Phone Use (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: UK prisons will roll out enhanced internet and mobile phone blocking technologies, according to new measures announced yesterday by Chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn Statement. The step, which seeks to stop inmate access to the internet and calls made from mobile devices, will involve part of a £1.3bn investment from the Ministry of Justice to improve the country's Prison Service. Through this strategy, the government hopes to drive "safety improvements" by denying calls and data used on illicit mobile devices. The latest development in blocking technologies promises to be better (paywalled) than earlier systems, which inmates have been able to get around.
The point of having prisons isn't to provide slightly inconvenient paid accommodation to ethically challenged individuals. "Researching their case" does not include keeping drug trades going to finance their defense or "keeping an eye" on possible witnesses against them. They have already proven that they can't handle reality and life on the outside, and Facebook isn't a human right.
Given this governments desire for things to have backdoors what are the chances this will include one. I mean what's an ex-MP to do if they get imprisoned (which occasionally happens). Mind you it would be a good lesson in something they seem to be totally unable to understand; even if you create a backdoor for a select few then eventually everyone knows how to use it.
They have already proven that they can't handle reality and life on the outside, and Facebook isn't a human right.
They have already proven that the system is a failure, and this is not about Facebook.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Do they know how much of a pain in the ass it is to smuggle in the largest model iPhone?
Can we really have it both ways? In other parts of the world we're arguing that internet access should be a utility, rather than a luxary. Not taking ng the piss, just mulling it over.
Britain's ministry of justice is second only to the US department of justice in doing ........ ensuring that people in the system have no access to reality, life, the Internet, and the ability to be part of even an online society, research their case, case law, or learn. ....
How nice. I'm sure they would only ever use the internet to learn about flower arranging and xylophone playing. It's not like they'd use it to continue managing their illegal operations and their gang from the inside, or threatening the people who helped put them in there - is it?
It's a utility because it's become how we control and organise our lives. Prisoners, who have minimal control over their lives as the prison service does that for them, do not need it to the same degree and it is therefore a luxury. They do have controlled access to communications, for example to contact their lawyers. This is about preventing uncontrolled communication which is widely used for arranging drug supply, continued control over their criminal networks and so on. While previous systems have obviously failed, and no system will ever be perfect, hopefully this new initiative will work out better than what has gone before.
"promises to be better (paywalled) "
Virtually smacks samzenpus upside their head.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
If only they weren't unreasonably seeking to use the most surveilled communications medium on Earth! There's no way to know what they're doing, much less punish such anonymous and unlocatable scofflaws!
Oh, wait...
This means I'm gonna hafta stop posing on Slashdot?
How does a firewall on your home network stop me from accessing any site on my cell phone if I visit you?
No matter what they do to try and stop phones from being smuggled in some will get in. There will always be some that get through. There are a large number of people that work for a prison and someone will have a bad time or be corruptible. With proper procedures and double checks you can get this down to a small number but there will always be a small amount of contraband getting through.
Changing the firewall settings won't do anything because they are on a different network. The need to suppress the cell network inside the prison and only within the prison. Guards, other employees, and visitors won't like it.
Unfortunately it's a symptom of having only enough money put into the system to house and punish those found guilty and not rehabilitate them. We keep them completely shut out of society with no preparation on how to re-integrate and then just shove them out the door with a few dollars in their pocket. Can you imagine trying to catch up on all of the changes in society if you have been away for a decade or two? I'm not suggesting that they don't deserve jail time but I think we need to do a way better job in our treatment of convicts.
Presumably, access to these this has always be restricted. But kingpins have way to smuggle in cells. Which presumably are used to continue running their empires, as well as playing Candy Crush Saga.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I guess you COULD install local cell towers, then have a whitelist of devices that are allowed to communicate through them. No smuggled phone would be any good.
I am fully aware that revenge and punishment are not accepted concepts in modern jurisdiction, but preventing convicted criminals from doing more harm is a valid and widely accepted purpose which justifies removing people from society. This includes limiting their ability to interact with the outside world.
Part of the point of being in prison is you get denied some of these things. That's kind of the point.
When someone has an illegal phone in prison, they could be using it to plan escapes, run their criminal empires, or plan witness intimidation. You know, stuff like this:
Think of the Mexican cartel leader they tunneled out of prison.
Justice, in this case, means ensuring you aren't still actively engaged in criminal activity. You know, the actual job of the ministry of justice.
So, boo hoo, criminals may not be getting unfettered access to the intertubes. That's what happens when you are in prison.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
How does committing crimes "prove that the system is a failure"? Unless you are of the "it can't be my fault, the system is to blame" crowd.
Unfortunately it's a symptom of having only enough money put into the system to house and punish those found guilty and not rehabilitate them. We keep them completely shut out of society with no preparation on how to re-integrate and then just shove them out the door with a few dollars in their pocket. Can you imagine trying to catch up on all of the changes in society if you have been away for a decade or two?
Actually, rehabilitation may well require isolating prisoners from some parts of the outside world.
The specific concern being addressed here is the operation of criminal networks in prison. This goes two ways: imprisoned leaders continuing to operate their criminal enterprises from behind bars, and gangs extending their operations into prison -- supplying drugs, weapons, and contraband, recruiting members, targeting rivals. Clearly not participating in criminal activities is a precondition to reformation.
All that said, recent research shows that the recidivism rate calculations may be misleading, because they overrepresent repeat offenders. Basically if you ask the question "What is the likelihood that someone exiting prison will return to prison," and "What is the likelihood that someone entering prison for the first time will be incarcerated again after he's released," you get very different answers. A solid majority (about 2/3) of people who go to prison will only go to prison once.
Can we conclude that prison then is better at reforming people than we thought? Not necessarily; it may be that most people who commit crimes only do so once in their lives, or naturally age out of the crime-prone demographic. But what is clear is that the recidivism problem is overwhelmingly people who go back to their old lives when they're released. So if you want to reduce the recidivism rate you have to focus on people whose social connections keep them involved in criminal activity throughout their lives. Disrupting at least some of those connections is a no-brainer.
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global tel link wants it's $1 or per min for calls and cell make it so inmates pay a lot less.
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Have gnu, will travel.
Maybe they could move TSA agents over to this. They have plenty of practice from checking the general public.
Why should inmates have access to any mobile phones or the internet at all?
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How does committing crimes "prove that the system is a failure"?
That depends on the nature of the "crime". If you had been incarcerated for possessing or selling a bit of weed, engaging in a peaceful protest, being Aaron Swartz, Living While Black, or simply pissing off the wrong LEO, then you too would likely feel that the system had failed. And you'd be right in that assessment. And there are cycles of poverty and hopelessness, (absolute breeding grounds for all kinds of violent anti-social behaviours), which are allowed to continue and sometimes even actively perpetuated by governments, law-enforcement agencies, and the attitudes of society-at-large. Again, FAIL.
Unless you are of the "it can't be my fault, the system is to blame" crowd.
No, it ain't always the system's fault, and personal responsibility and awareness are always to be encouraged and expected. But there are an awful lot of people in prison through no fault of their own, and a whole lot more who are there largely because of the contributory negligence of the society they live in. And the way most of them are being treated while in prison is pretty much a guarantee that they'll truly be bad-ass criminals when they are released - even if they were very minor criminals, or not criminals at all, when they were tossed in jail.
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... a lot of people in the UK can't even get a decent connection, even thought they have to pay for it. So why do criminals get it free anyway. I thought the objective when jailed is to take away certain 'home comfort' liberties' that make it an atonement for crimes committed. If the story is true, then that is really sad.
The prison can't even keep out contraband. How can it be a safe and rehabilitative environment when tools, toys, and weapons can't be kept out? That's proof of failure right there.
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The prisoners have electricity and water, even if monitored and controlled. They have lights out enforced on them and such. Internet is provided at most prisons, on computers that are locked down and heavily monitored, which is why prisoners want other means of Internet, to use it without oversight.
Something can be a fundamental right and still denied to prisoners. The US bans prisoners from voting, owning firearms, and a variety of other things that are "rights". Though many places allow prisoners to vote, i don't know if the UK is or isn't on that list.
Learn to love Alaska
There are bugs in open source software... I guess the free / open source concept is a failure.
nice non sequitur. The system doesn't work. We can't even get an agreement on what "the system" is supposed to do. And the possible options are unrelated to what actually happens.
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80% of the British population are foreign nationals either in the UK illegally or granted temporary residency. It isn't British society that's broken.
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They are allowed to have XBox's and Playstations, and if they are lucky that provides an internet connection allowing online gaming and communication.
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You need to stop drones flying over and dropping packages. Or people just chucking stuff over walls.
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The FCC and cell companies wont allow any intentional cell-free zones in the USA. Nominally the say its a safety issue for legal users. Inmates are very clever in obtaining, hiding and charging their phones. Plenty are found in any deep sweep of US jails. Did for theaters and schools.
The UK government has recently been told by the courts that they have to allow prisoners to vote (if they're on an indefinite sentence, IIRC), and the UK government are livid about being told that that is the law.
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