Contraband In Prisons

Contraband in prisons seems to be a controversial issue among the public. A reader directed us to a discussion taking place on the Facebook page of Sen. Katrina Frye Shealy of Lexington. Sen. Shealy thinks possession of a cell phone in prison needs to be upgraded to a felony charge and a bill dealing with that is being discussed in Columbia. We don’t disagree with her.

S 1093 was proposed earlier this month, prior to the big to-do over the inmate (c)rap video. Not a peep was heard about it until now.

 

 

It would appear the video of South Carolina prison inmates (c)rapping had such an impact that politicians are now stepping into the fray publicly. S 1093 was introduced on 11 March, but only now are we receiving any notice of it. One has to wonder where the politicians have been hiding over the past two years. How did they manage to avoid hearing about the hundreds of prisoners with contraband cell phones featured here on Charleston Thug Life? Where were they during our very public battle with the previous administration of SCDC? We are almost positive they were informed of those issues by some of their constituents. We have quite a few politically active readers here, you know.

Of course, this is a common occurrence when a major story hits the airwaves. This inmate video went national, so politicians have taken notice. Our story on Tyheem Henry went national and caused an uproar for a few weeks. Politicians took note. Unfortunately, as soon as the glare from the media fades, so does the desire of politicians to actually get anything accomplished.

We suppose we should just be happy with the fact someone in Columbia has finally noticed.

For those of you who don’t think cell phones are a problem, here is a list of approximately 260 inmates hit with the SCDC administrative charge of maintaining a social networking site from 2012 to 2014. Regular readers of CTL will recognize quite a few of the names. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Guess who will be campaigning behind the scenes to defeat S 1093. Yep, the very same solicitors who decided they would not cooperate when SCDC tried to designate cell phones as an escape tool in the past, which would have made it a felony to possess one.

Want to know how much an inmate is costing you, the taxpayer, while he is enjoying smoking his weed and surfing the internet on his contraband cell phone? Click here.

Let’s review some of the comments made on Katrina Shealy’s page.

 

 

Well, we know the guy above doesn’t read Charleston Thug Life or have any idea of what SCDC is dealing with in their facilities. If he did, he might have seen the numerous instances in these pages of inmates using their phones and social media to threaten witnesses. Maybe he should have an up close and personal chat with Captain Robert Johnson who was shot six times in his own home, the result of a “hit” ordered by an inmate from behind the walls of Lee Correctional Institution. A hit ordered via one of those contraband cell phones he deems “not dangerous”. Johnson was shot in 2010. As of his last correspondence with us about a month ago, he was scheduled for yet another surgery.

We should not overlook the obvious. These cell phones are also used to order up additional contraband like drugs, weapons and more cell phones. Why? Because they are not recorded by SCDC. The endless cycle now takes shape.

We clarified the problem with the state’s contraband laws in this post. Pre-2000 possession of contraband was a felony. In 2000 another law was passed making everything except for drugs and implements of escape a misdemeanor offense. The laws allow the director of SCDC to designate what is contraband. When SCDC tried to designate cell phones as instruments of escape, thereby keeping it in the felony category, they were shot down by - guess who - solicitors. That’s right. Solicitors who didn’t want to deal with SCDC felonies gumming up their dockets told the director of SCDC they wouldn’t prosecute those cases as felonies, even though the director has the authority under the law to designate them as such.

As a result of that lack of cooperation (actually, downright hostility) directed at SCDC by solicitors, we now have the sad situation where internal punishment is deemed harsher than punishment under the law. SCDC does the best they can with the tools they have at their disposal. As we have seen in our hundreds of posts, many on repeat offenders, the internal punishments ultimately mean nothing to these inmates.

 

This guy is worried about whether these criminals can vote or own firearms when released from prison.  Once again we see evidence of a lack of logic and misplaced priorities. If these convicts can’t obey laws or follow rules while incarcerated what makes this guy think they will do so once released?

He then presents us with the irrational argument that he doesn’t want someone’s “legal status” changed over something “this stupid”. Again, he should sit down with Captain Johnson or some of the victims and witnesses who have been harassed by these inmates with contraband cell phones. Or maybe the wife of the Charleston County deputy who was harassed by an inmate on Facebook could fill him in. But, they would probably be “stupid”, too. We won’t berate this guy too much. We will just say his reasoning is “stupid”.

 

 

The fellow above still believes that liberal mantra about rehabilitation in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. If he read Charleston Thug life he would be able to review the inmate summaries the new administration at SCDC has made available. He would see the world is not all unicorns and rainbows and that very few of these inmates actually participate in any educational opportunities offered. Of those who do, very few actually complete the programs.

Why? Because they get in trouble for things like public masturbation, fighting, possession of drugs, weapons or cell phones or a litany of other offenses. The same goes for those who sign up to work. Now, there have to be some inmates who do take advantage, but they seem few and far between. Or they aren’t the ones who consistently break laws and rules.

Our advice? Don’t get hung on up that “correctional institution” moniker. They rarely correct anything. We should revert to the word prison, as in Lee State Prison or Lieber State Prison to remove any illusion of what actually happens there.

Some of you might like to review the recidivism rates from 2005 to 2010 for the South Carolina prison system.

This link will give you the 2013 inmate to corrections officer ratio in all SCDC facilities. Lee Correctional Institution, one of the worst facilities for prisoners with contraband, had 1,699 inmates and only 150 corrections officers. There were 74 supervisors there, though. Damn! The ratio of corrections officers to supervisors is 2 to 1 at LCI while the ratio of inmates to corrections officers is 11.3 to 1.

No, all of those corrections officers don’t work at the same time. They work different shifts, they get sick, they take vacations, just like you do. As a result, the actual inmate to corrections officer ratio on any given shift is likely to be much, much higher. And they are paid peanuts.

We have had harsh words for SCDC in the past, but they were directed at a previous administration that had the attitude they would do what they wanted to do and citizens should shut the hell up. That attitude departed when that administration did.

Once we were able to move past that roadblock and dig deeper into the true issues plaguing SCDC we were stunned to see how the organization has been hamstrung by politicians, solicitors and those who control the state’s coffers. SCDC has been stuck at the back of the bus for far too long and the effects of that neglect are showing. It’s long past time for legislators to give SCDC the tools and the funding they need to do the job.