Inmates Reveal How Smartphones Are Smuggled Into Prison

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Our first look at the riots inside Holman Prison came from inmates who sent us videos from their smartphones.

Don't reach for your reading glasses — you read that correctly.  Inmates at a maximum security prison have the same smartphones you and I use, with a cellular signal to watch movies, post to their Facebook pages, and video chat with family.

We initiated several video chats with half a dozen inmates inside Holman Prison during News 5's coverage of the two riots that led to the warden and a corrections officer being stabbed.

During those chats, we asked the same question our News 5 viewers have been asking on the WKRG Facebook page:  how do inmates have smartphones?

All the inmates gave us the same answer.  The guards are selling them the phones.

"They empathize," said an inmate who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "And the guards say I can make me some money."

The inmates say the guards are selling them the phones at a premium price to "help feed their families." News 5 learned that one phone was sold to an inmate for $500 and the charger for $150.  The inmates pay the guards using prepaid gift cards that are easily smuggled into the facility.

Family members of the inmates then reload the cellular plans with minutes, texts and data to stay in contact.

"Most of the inmates are using the phones to talk to their families," said the anonymous inmate.

But the inmates say the guards also use the phones to "keep the prisoners busy."  The more phones that are in the prison keeping inmates occupied, the less incidents the guards believe they'll have to deal with.

"They keep the peace," the inmate said of smartphones. "It's like for the [guards], it's a win-win situation,"

30 smartphones were confiscated after the first riot on Friday, but the inmates say they'll always be able to get more and find the best spots within the prison to keep them hidden.

"They don't search for them as hard as they used to."

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Source: Inmates Reveal How Smartphones Are Smuggled Into Prison