Home › News › Florida news
Cell-phone sniffing dog to help authorities at Florida prisons
More Florida news
- POLL: Martinez announces he will not seek reelection
- Fla. PSC OKs $1.57 a month FPL rate cut
- Alligator Alley meeting Tuesday night in Naples
Tell us about it
- What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
- Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
- Upload photos & videos
- More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.
STORY TOOLS
Share and Enjoy [?]
FORT LAUDERDALE — Her name is Razor and she has a nose for Nokias.
Department of Corrections officials say they're counting on Razor the dog to help sniff out contraband cell phones in Florida prisons.
Razor will demonstrate her talents Tuesday. When she officially joins the corrections department in November, she'll help enforce a law that went into effect Oct. 1 and makes having a cell phone in prison illegal.
Get caught with a phone, and an inmate faces up to five additional years in prison and a fine of $5,000. Officials say inmates have used cell phones to coordinate escape attempts, harass victims and arrange drug deals in and outside of prison. In the past year, officials found approximately 340 cell phones in Florida prisons.
Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below. Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. Break our rules, and we will ban you. No exceptions, no second chances. Read our privacy policy & user agreement.
I've not ever been to prison/jail.
I thought you were stripped of personal belongings when entering jail.
I also thought all contact with visitors was controlled.
How are the cell phones getting in? Who ISN'T doing their job?
#1 Posted by eaglebeak on October 7, 2008 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Re: Post #1 - I have an old college friend who is a shift commander at a large prison in Michigan, and he says that prisoners are some of the most innovative people you will ever meet when it comes to getting around the rules.
Most of the contraband items that gets found in prisons (including cell phones) are smuggled in from outside by people who come to visit the prisoners. Wives, girlfriends, friends, relatives...some people even use children as "mules" because they think they are less likely to be searched by guards.
Despite the best efforts of the guards, stuff still gets through. The only way to completely control it is to make visits at all levels of incarceration "non-contact".
#2 Posted by Pianoman8869 on October 7, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pianoman.....I guess, I think, I understand..sort of, kind of.
Aren't the visitors searched? Aren't they separated by wire/glass from the prisoners?
Is everything I see on tv. a lie?
UUUGGGHHH!
#3 Posted by eaglebeak on October 7, 2008 at 11:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Re: Post #3 - Visitors and their belongings are searched as they enter the prison for visitation. However, unless the guards have probable cause, they are not allowed to do more than what amounts to a cursory search.
Prisoners, on the other hand, are subject to strip searches at any time, which frequently happens after contact visits.
I'm not sure how Florida works, but in Michigan they have five security levels (minimum to supermax). Minimum and medium security are allowed to have contact visits, high security are allowed to have supervised limited contact visits, maximum and supermaximum are only allowewd non-contact visits (through glass).
As unsavory as it is, what RockfordGrad suggests is one of the most common ways things get into the prison from outside. Other ways are secret compartments in purses and handbags, secret compartments in footwear, inside large hairdos, and so on. As I said, these people can get very creative.
#4 Posted by Pianoman8869 on October 7, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Post your comment
(Requires free registration.)