Prisons Now Without
Cellular Signal Thanks
To Cell Blockers
Although prisoners of
the La Reforma, in
Alajuela, have been
ingenious in getting
their hands on cellular
phones, smuggled in to
the prison and used in
some cases to commit
fraud, the Ministerio de
Justicia (Justice
Ministry) now has the
upper hand on the
situation.
According to the
ministra de Justicia,
Laura Chinchilla, a
cellular signal blocker
has been installed in
the prison to block all
use of TDMA and GSM
cellular phones in the
penitentiary.
The equipment
electronically blocks
all cellular signals
around the prison that
holds 1.075 inmates.
According to Francisco
Segura, subirector of
the OIJ, they have found
that calls originating
from inside the prison
have been made to make
threats to those on the
outside and used to
commit fraud.
The OIJ says it has 130
complaints of calls that
intended to defraud,
threaten or extort, 100
of which originated from
La Reforma.
The Dirección General de
Adaptación Social
(prison management) says
that some 500 cellular
phones have been
confiscated this year
from prisoners in La
Reforma.
Guillermo Ugalde, head
of the prison police,
said that the majority
of the cellular phones
are smuggled into the
prison by visitors,
avoiding security
controls.
The cellular signal
blocker was donated by
an English company which
is valued at us$14.000
dollars.
The Ministerio de
Justicia did not provide
details of the
installation, however,
did say that trials show
a 100% success rate.
"100% of all GSM and
TDMA signals have been
blocked", said
Chinchilla, without
providing details of the
system.
A similar system was
also installed in the an
Sebastián, El Buen
Pastor (women's prison)
and the Limón jails. |
