A federal inmate was found to be using a cellphone to communicate with friends, family, and potential dating partners via Facebook.
“It’s scary, it’s actually scary because they’re in there for a reason, they’re not in there to play around and how that cellphone got in there, that is the question,” Colleen Mowery, of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, told WNEP.
A local man speculated on how Mattox may have obtained the cellphone.
“I think he’s in good with the guards and guards are bringing, the ones bringing the stuff in, that’s the only way it’s getting in there. Just got to tighten down the security with the guards, maybe clean house,” Todd Mowery told WNEP.
Options authorities are looking at include jamming cellphone signals, but the technology is costly and could impact cellphones of people both inside and outside the prison. Also, state and local prisons are not authorized to jam signals, USA Today reported.
Another option has to be implemented by cellphone carriers, and would alert the prison to illicit use and shut down the cellphone service. That technology is also expensive and doesn’t work on all models of cellphones, according to USA Today.