Drones delivering contraband to prisons

Le Chef on BB Forum from The Drive

This is "Off Topic" so you purists may want to skip...below first article is one about drones going into a Detroit prison.  Drone have been used to deliver contraband to U.S. prisons

In BC

In British Columbia’s Matsqui district officials at a federal prison successfully intercepted a package being illegally piloted into the correctional facility. We’ve seen this same scenario several times such as when cell phones and porn were being smuggled into federal prisons via drone or an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying contraband crashing into the prison yard. The idea of a drone as a tool to effectively bypass official prison procedures is nothing new, but the monetary value in this particular case is certainly impressive. According to Huffington Post, however, the foiled delivery attempt in Matsqui carried a package with an estimated $26,500 value comprised of drugs and tobacco.

Reportedly, the assistant warden at the prison issued a statement last week, in which he confirmed that the package was released onto prison property Dec. 23 at around 10 p.m. Perhaps the contents of this package were intended as Christmas gifts of sorts or just meant to be sold within the correctional facility. It is unclear exactly which drugs were included in this delivery. What is clear, however, is that together with the tobacco, this drone delivery could’ve resulted in more than $26,000 worth of substances being sold within the prison walls. These illegal prison deliveries by drones have been occurring often and with an alarming number of drones suspiciously flying over certain prisons last year, for example.

While it is clear that the unregulated markets within our institutions run fairly rampant, officials and citizens need to be aware of the modern implementation of drones in this business. Just recently, we’ve reported on a man smuggling 13 pounds of methamphetamine over the US-Mexico border. He was caught, of course, but how many others never are? Are we ready for drones to be used on both sides of the law? How can we do better at preventing these situations? These are the questions that arise whenever news like this makes its way to the public. According to Huffington Post, no new security measures to curb these attempts in the future have been detailed yet, but the Correctional Service of Canada stated it will ramp up its efforts. Stay tuned.

and from Detroit

Drones have become quite the popular tool for smuggling contraband into prison. Having reviewed video footage of such a drone-based delivery, which took place in May, officials have now confirmed it to be the first time a drone successfully delivered contraband to Michigan inmates.

Correctional facilities all over the U.S. have had to face this issue recently, with an alarming number of drones flying over Georgia State Prisons this year, and items such as drugs and phones being illegally delivered to inmates. The problem is largely based on not having enough correctional officers to maintain the integrity of a facility's perimeter, as well as being unable to do anything about the unmanned aerial vehicle if it actually is spotted.

While various remedies are being considered, including anti-drone guns for employees and implementing signal-jamming geofences, the smuggling continues.

Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz confirmed on Friday that the surveillance footage definitively proves that inmates at Ionia’s Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility successfully retrieved two packages delivered by drone, a confirmation that's the first of its kind for Michigan, according to The Detroit News.

Officials suspect these payloads to have contained Alcatel cellphones, which were later discovered inside the facility, and is a brand of phone often used as a "burner" phone, which easily circumnavigates detailed registration or the need for personal information. This type of phone has previously been involved in attempted drone deliveries to prisons in Carson City and other Ionia prisons in August, according to Detective Sgt. Christian Clute.

“We don’t even know what was in the packages, to be honest,” said Clute, according to The Detroit News. It’s an ongoing investigation, and the names of the inmates found with the phones haven't been released. However, three inmates are facing felony smuggling charges in connection with the August Ionia drone incident, severely increasing their potential time in prison.

Why did state officials, who “don’t discuss all introductions of contraband” disclose this most recent incident? “That was the first time the department has ever seen contraband come in, find it before prisoners got to it and effectuate an arrest immediately after,” Gautz said.

As we stated in our most recent drone-related prison story, this is a clear, ongoing issue that correctional facilities need to address sooner rather than later. Regardless of the unfortunate realities of prison life, the employees working there need to be as sure as possible that inmates are unarmed.

Below a crash carrying contraband such as cell phones to a Georgia Prison