Technology Is Imprisioning

Technology is for everyone! That's what I hear from the many people who are addicted to using technology to hide from reality and create an alter universe. I don't buy that line, seeing many flaws in the, "If it's high tech it's better" philosophy. I think I am be a chorus of one, because  documents obtained from the Justice Department  through a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered more than a dozen attempts to transport contraband, including mobile phones, drugs and porn, into federal prisons in the past five years. State facilities have also reported similar incidents.

The prisoners are high tech. I guess it figures, since they are clever enough (well, those not caught committing their crimes) to use technology in many of their crimes.  Prison drone drug delivery makes since because current anti drone technologies fail to protect jails against the unmanned drones  that transport dangerous items, including firearms, which are almost impossible to sneak in via traditional prison smuggling methods. Drones are inexpensive, easy to operate and powerful. A growing number of criminals seem to be recognizing their potential value as tools for breaking their rules.

Here's an example of how technology moves faster than legislation to regulate it. While smuggling anything into a prison through any method violates federal law, no statute currently bars drones from flying near correctional facilities. One example of how the smuggling works comes from a federal prison in California where a prisoner recruited someone to use a drone to smuggle in two cell phones in 2015. The prison didn't discover the transfer of illegal goods for five months. Similar incidents occurred at a number of other U.S. prisons. The documents didn't reveal specifics about high tech prison about other events, citing privacy and security issues.

But public trail records show that last year a recently released inmate and two accomplices were convicted of smuggling drugs and porn into Maryland's Western Correctional Institution via drone. They were paid $6,000 per porn entrance drop.  Well, it's nice to know that if I go to prison whether will be something worth watching