Cell phones seized from Charles Manson

February 14, 2011

Cult killer Charles Manson was just one of 11,000 California inmates caught with cell phones in 2010. Manson was caught calling and texting people in California, Florida, New Jersey and British Columbia. He had missed calls from Arkansas, Indiana and Massachusetts on the phone that guards discovered in March 2009, and he was caught with a second phone last month. [Associated Press]

Prison officials have become so outraged at the notion of violent inmates like Manson possessing cell phones that they are trying new ways to strike back. They are preparing to test a system that would capture every cell phone signal from a prison and block unauthorized calls, as California and other states search for technology to stop what has become a growing problem inside prison walls.

California legislators are also considering three proposed changes to state law that would step up enforcement against cell phone violators in prison.

Manson obtained two cell phones despite being housed in California’s only Protective Housing Unit, reserved for the most notorious inmates. They have their own exercise yard at Corcoran State Prison, and their meals are cooked by prison employees – instead of other inmates – for fear of poisoning.

Yet the 76-year-old Manson has been calling and texting people all over North America.

Officials will not release the names of the people Manson was communicating with on the phone seized in 2009. They also won’t say where Manson was calling with his second phone as they struggle with the huge volume of cell phone investigations.

Authorities believe Manson received the first phone from a visitor, a typical method of contraband delivery. Guards encounter more creative methods as well, including phones that are punted over prison walls inside soccer balls. Guards themselves have been accused of smuggling many of the phones.

Read more: Fresnobee.com