Bill targets prisoners on Facebook

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Islam Dunn updates his Facebook page with a phone like many other 19-year-olds, only he must hide the device so prison guards don’t notice.

The proliferation of cell phones smuggled into prisons has some inmates routinely updating their status from the inside, and South Carolina is considering becoming the first state to make that a crime.

The measure would add 30 days to a prisoner’s sentence if he is caught interacting on social-networking sites via cell phone. The bill goes a step further, too, making it illegal for anyone to set up a page for a prisoner, which legal experts say violates inmates’ free-speech rights even if they are using contraband cell phones.

Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Democrat from Charleston who proposed the law, said crime victims shouldn’t have to worry about seeing or being threatened by a prisoner online. There’s also a fear convicts are coordinating criminal activity.

“We now know that the criminals behind bars are using this as a method of intimidation. People’s lives are threatened. They’re sending out coded messages through social networking,” he said. “How can we as a society stand by and do nothing?”

Tarangie Tyler’s family was terrorized nearly two years ago by Dunn and a group of men who were trying to rob their home. Her 34-year-old husband, Jerry, was shot to death in the attack after four men, including Dunn, kicked in the door of their home.

Tyler moved her five children to a safer neighborhood, but now fears they could be intimidated by simply logging on to the computer that sits on their kitchen counter.

“To hear that one of them has a Facebook, it’s scary,” said Tyler, 35. “I don’t think they should have Facebook, because of the crime that they did. ... If they want to communicate, that’s what pencil and paper are for.”

Prisoners are free to exchange letters with people on the outside, but their mail is monitored. Inmates in federal prison and a handful of other jurisdictions also have limited access to e-mail, and typically can send it only to people who have previously agreed to it.

Yet smart phones provide easy access to social-networking sites, and it’s difficult for corrections officials to keep up. Some inmate pages are obvious, with photos of themselves in prison. Others are set up and run by relatives or friends.

Facebook already prohibits third-party profiles and takes them down when they find out. The company also deactivates prisoner pages when they become aware of them, regardless of who set up the pages.

In Oklahoma, a man serving 30 years for the murder of a sheriff was moved to solitary confinement after he used a smuggled cell phone to post pictures and comments on Facebook.

Officials in California, having seized nearly 11,000 mobile phones from prisoners last year, started setting up system that would capture every cell-phone signal from a prison and block unauthorized calls, a program already used in Mississippi and in the works in South Carolina.

“I don’t doubt that there are inmates who use contraband cell phones and social media to connect with their families,” said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “But we also have evidence that they’re using contraband cell phones ... to harass victims to threaten other people and to engage in all other sorts of criminal activity.”

On Dunn’s page, he wrote that was tired of being in prison and asked friends to put money on his prepaid debit card. He’ll be in for 20 years after his conviction of attempted armed robbery.

“All i want is my life bac,” Dunn updated Jan. 29 from Facebook’s mobile web application. Corrections officials were unaware of Dunn’s Facebook page.

The South Carolina bill has support from a dozen lawmakers, including the Republican House speaker, but it’s not clear whether it will pass. If it becomes law, prisoners who use cell phones to interact online would be fined $500 and detained up to 30 more days. Those who set up profiles would face similar punishment.