Pubdate: Sun, 20 Apr 2008
Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2008
Contact:  http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39
Author: King-Oua Laohong
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

MOBILE PHONES NOW JAMMED IN PRISONS

Corrections Department Cutting Off Contact Between Drug Dealers On 
The Outside And Inside To Stem Flow Of Narcotics

Devices to block mobile phone signals have been  installed at three 
maximum security prisons to cut off  contact between prisoners and 
drug dealers on the  outside, Corrections Department chief Wanchai 
Rujanawong said yesterday. Mr Wanchai said the devices  were 
installed after a series of attempts to contact  dealers and bring 
drugs into the prisons.

Last week some crystal metham-phetamine, or Ya Ice, was  discovered 
hidden inside the cover of a pocket book  sent to Lueng Pak Lun, a 
Korean convicted of drug  offences, in zone 10 of the Khlong Prem 
Central Prison.

The discovery triggered a thorough search of the  prison.

Prison officials suspect the drug was ordered by mobile  phone and 
delivered through mobile phone contacts  inside and outside the prison.

The department is conducting a trial run of the devices  used to 
block mobile phone transmissions.

It is the latest technology to be installed after the  previous 
signal jammer equipment used by prison  authorities disrupted the 
transmission of mobile phone  signals in nearby houses. "For this 
reason, we opted  for a device which works with more specific scope 
within the prison," Mr Wanchai said.

The signal blocking devices are under trial at Khlong  Prem Central 
Prison, Bang Kwang Prison and the Central  Correctional Institute for 
Drug Addicts, which houses  high-profile drug traffickers.

The department chief, however, admitted it was  difficult to screen 
items sent in by mail.

He said some narcotics were sealed inside cups of  yoghurt or in 
bottles of lotion.

Mr Wanchai added that one prisoner was found to have  brought in 
drugs stuffed in condoms which were inserted  in his anus after he 
came back from trial in court.

"It's the same old tricks, like putting speed pills  inside toads 
which have had their organs removed and  are then tossed over the 
prison walls. But now guards  are intercepting them," he said.

Mr Wanchai said X-ray machines at the three  correctional facilities 
have been useful in screening  suspicious items.

The department also asked the post office to photocopy  the 
identification cards of people who mail parcels to  prisons.

Mr Wanchai said prisons are rejecting items sent  through post 
offices at some hypermarkets after drugs  were found in packages of 
consumer products.

There have also been complaints from foreign convicts,  who have been 
upset that parcels addressed to them had  been rifled through. Some 
of the cases ended in  lawsuits against prison staff and wardens.

Prisons normally must obtain a warrant from a court to  search 
prisoners' mail. The Justice Ministry, however,  is now seeking a 
change of the law to leave it up to  the prison commander to decide 
whether to authorise a  search.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom