Prisons No Cellphones Allowed

Old movies have scenes where inmates line up to use the public prison phone. Can you imagine not owning a phone? That should be a deterrent to anyone contemplating a crime, but as they say in the movies ‘you do crime, you do time.’

Phones are not allowed in jail but it doesn’t mean they don’t find their way in. I read somewhere that some prison guards smuggle them in for inmates, since they are not searched when they come to work. 

That’s hard to believe they would break the law and bring in contraband for prisoners who are behind bars, because they broke the law. But then, the dollar buys everything, even prison wi-fi.

Visitors used to be creative about smuggling in phones for their friends. Some were caught, others slipped through, now that’s power. A prisoner with a phone! Initially, phones were not allowed because authorities thought inmates will use them to plan escapes and orchestrate riots.   

But that’s chicken feed now. Stakes are higher. Inmates have all the time in the world to think about cyber crime. If they had phones, they might set up conglomerates with hackers and bring the world to a standstill. As the saying goes, great minds think alike. Make that digital minds because the internet is a den of thieves.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.