With federal lawmakers expressing concern that smuggled cellphones are becoming more prevalent and more serious than smuggleddrugs in the state’s correctional facilities, area authorities arealso keeping a watchful eye on inmate communications to the outsideworld.

“It’s definitely a growing problem. The other day when we did ajail search we recovered two,” said Lincoln County Sheriff SteveRushing. “It’s not uncommon to get one here and there. And if wecan trace back to who had them, we’ll charge them with it.”

Rushing added the charger, or any component of a cellulardevice, is illegal to have in a jail.

Lawrence County Undersheriff Willie Wallace echoed Rushing’ssentiments, saying that inmates in his county are also charged withpossession of a cellular device in a correctional facility if theyare caught with cellular phone pieces as well. Such a charge,Wallace said, carries a three- to five-year sentence.

State and federal officials, including U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker,have voiced worries over cell phones being used to plan jailbreaks,as well as calling in favors and planning hits and other usuallygang-related activities.

“When you have a limited staff like at night or weekends, theycan pick up the cell phone and say come down here and break me outof jail,” Wallace said. “You think it’s not going to happen inLincoln County or Lawrence County, but they can even operate a drugoperation from a cell phone in jail.”

Rushing said so far he hasn’t found evidence of that in theLincoln County Jail, but inmates do share their smuggled phones sothey can all have contact with the outside world.

“We’ve found them sharing them in the cell block, we have comeacross them letting each other use them,” he said. “But so far wehaven’t had any connection to outside criminal activities.”

Meanwhile, it seems that not just in Lincoln and Lawrencecounties, but everywhere, there are problems keeping the cellphones out of the jails because of their portability.

“Everyone is searched when they come in, but they’re so easy toconceal,” Rushing said. “We discuss it at the sheriffs’ conferencesall the time, how to consistently locate them and keep themout.”

Wallace said people have gone to great extents to try to glueSIM cards inside elaborate greeting cards, because if they can getone cell phone inside the walls of the jail, inmates can just putin their own SIM cards and they have all their own contacts andinformation.

“I’ve got about five SIM cards laying on the desk in front of methat we’ve confiscated,” Wallace said. “And I’ve got a sack full ofcell phones.

Rushing said more often than not, the cell phones in his jailare being used to keep from having to use the pay phone.

“They’re just trying to get contact with the outside,” he said.”We have those regular phones out there that are pay phones. We’vefound them using cell phones more or less to get around that.”

Wallace said the revenue that the county collects off jail payphones was one thing that keyed sheriff’s department employees into watching for cellular devices.

“Ours fell from like $200 a month to like $75 a month, so whatdoes that tell you?” he said. “There’s cell phones in there.”

The Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009, which is beingcosponsored by Wicker in the United States Senate, would allowstates to petition the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) touse devices that would jam cell phone communications insidecorrectional facilities.

So far, Rushing said, jammers have been illegal. Rushing saidMississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Christopher Eppshas been working for the cause as well.

Wallace said he and other officials at Lawrence County would bein favor of lifting the ban on cellular jammers in correctionalfacilities.

“Yes, I would support that,” he said. “Of course it would messme up as far as using my cell phone in the jail, but we’ve gotother phones we could use.”

Rushing said should the legislation pass, it would be a greathelp to corrections officers and law enforcement all over thecountry.

“It’s an ongoing national problem. That’s why they shouldn’thave cell phones,” he said. “It’s just like any other criminal act.They’re in jail, so their freedoms are obviously restricted.”