Cellphones in US prisons

See:
http://www.gao.gov/podcast/transcripts/2011-09-06_gao_podcastmaurer.txt

"x x x.

[ David Maurer: ] We collected some data on that, and what we found was
that from 2008 to 2010, the number of cell phones confiscated in federal
prisons had actually doubled. So it's growing quite dramatically. We
also had some data from selected states. We found in some of the states,
it's an even bigger problem. So for example in California, we found that
from 2008 to 2010 they had found four times as many smuggled cell phones
in that period of time. California's definitely been the leader in this
regard, so they found over 10,000 smuggled cell phones in 2010 alone.

[ Jeremy Cluchey: ] What's the risk of having these cell phones in
federal prisons. What are some of the potential consequences that can
result from prisoners using cell phones illegally while they're
incarcerated?

[ David Maurer: ] One of the major risks is that it allows inmates to
continue the operation of their criminal activities while they're still
incarcerated. They can still communicate with their colleagues outside
the walls of the prison, and we found several examples of this going on.
For example, one individual was running an identity theft ring with some
of his colleagues outside the prison. They were able to rack up over
$250,000 worth of stolen goods by taking advantage of stolen credit
cards, that sort of thing. This was going on while he was still
incarcerated. The Feds found him out, and he was convicted and had 14
years added to his sentence. One of the other risks is that it allows
inmates to communicate with one another, both within the prison as well
as across different prisons within an individual system. This allows
them to pass information about security, information about specific
guards, organize protests, that sort of thing. So it presents a real
problem for safety and security within the walls of the prison.

x x x."