Law that would keep cellphones from Charles Manson and other prisoners passes key vote
March 23, 2011 | 9:10 am
A proposed law would make it a misdemeanor to smuggle a cellphone to an inmate though it would exempt prison employees -- considered a main source of phones used to arrange crimes from behind bars -- from screening by metal detectors as they go to work. The measure passed a key vote Monday in the Senate Public Safety Committee and now heads to the Appropriations Committee.
Requiring prison guards to stand in line for airport-like security checks would cost the state millions, according to legislative analysts. That is because members of the politically powerful corrections officers union are paid for "walk time," the minutes it takes to get from their cars, or the front gate, to their posts inside the prisons.
Amid the state's budget crisis, any proposal that would cost money is a "dead end," said Bill Mabie, spokesman for state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), sponsor of the cellphone bill.
As written, the bill, SB 26, did not apply the threat of jail time to prison employees, but the Public Safety Committee added that provision Tuesday.
"These cellphones are being brought in primarily, it appears, by people employed by our corrections system," said committee Chairwoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley). "To me this is not only a very egregious offense, but a breach of public trust."
Read the full story: Bill to bar prison cellphones passes key vote in California Senate
RELATED:
Charles Manson had a cellphone?
Prison guards union called main obstacle to keeping cellphones from inmates
-- Jack Dolan in Sacramento
No comments:
Post a Comment