Organizing money and drugs out of jail – it was often possible by mobile phone. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the country has thwarted the detainees with jammers. After a one-year test in Offenburg, the system should now also be used in other institutions.
Baden-Württemberg is the first state with cell phone jammers against drug trafficking and escape attempts in prisons.
In the prison in Offenburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg) for a year radio silence prevails. After the test phase, the mobile phone blocker is now running there in regular operation, said Minister of Justice Ulrich Goll (FDP) in Stuttgart. For the first time in a German correctional facility (JVA) were prevented by jamming secret phone calls of the prisoners. The Federal Network Agency has now also agreed to the permanent operation of the plant. The country wants to use after the successful test mobile blocker in other prisons.
Mobile phones in prison cells are prohibited. But because prisoners are repeatedly caught with mobile phones, the prison in Offenburg has been using jammers since August 2009. They emit a signal that prevents phone calls or the sending of text messages. The emitted radio signal of the cell phone jammer is superimposed on that of the regular mobile radio systems. The result is an artificially created radio hole.
“The trial was a great success,” Goll said. “Prisoners have no chance to make contact with the outside world with smuggled cell phones.” The system works, and mobile phones outside the institution have not been disturbed. Such fears have proved unfounded.
In order to avoid frequency disturbances outside the institution, not a few large cell phone blockers were used in Offenburg, but more than 700 smaller jamming devices installed. These each have only a smaller range. A blocker activates automatically when mobile signals are detected. The installation and commissioning of the system resulted in costs of around one million euros.