Ottawa struggles to stop prisoners from using illicit mobile devices

The federal government is offering a contract for a company to come up with a new way to stop prison inmates from wirelessly communicating with the outside world — involving a new approach based on cooperating with telecoms. Correctional Services Canada says it’s seeking a “technological solution" to manage and prevent unauthorized use of mobile wireless devices, which are banned in federal prisons, a recently-posted government tender reads. “The presence of wireless devices in correctional facilities is enabling inmates to conduct criminal or otherwise non-approved activities through the use of these devices,” it said. “Wireless devices are getting smaller, more sophisticated, and easier to bypass traditional detection methods.” The tender says the government needs a system for Canadian prisons to detect and locate unauthorized wireless communications, right down to the correct cell-room, and then alert staff. That would allow authorities to request “interruption of service from the associated Wireless Service Providers (WSPs),” the tender said. CSC refused to answer questions about what approaches it currently uses to stop unauthorized phone use. “For safety and security reasons, CSC cannot disclose which technology and design features are used at our facilities,” spokesperson Avely Serin said in an email. But it did say that its approach doesn’t currently work with wireless service to cut service to unauthorized devices. CSC’s spokesperson Lindsay Holloway said in an email the department is looking for “a system that can provide a seamless interface with Wireless Service Providers.” The number of mobile devices possessed by inmates has been increasing over the past decade, which has had CSC bureaucrats scratching their heads over the years with how to curb illicit electronics usage. Data provided by CSC show that guards seized a total of 87 cell phones in 2016 and 2017. The tender said it’s a problem countries around the world have grappled with, but nothing has proven to work, from jamming or blocking to managed access systems, where only approved devices can connect to networks. It also said search and retrieve technology, which Holloway said uses passive radio frequency sensing technology, has proven to be "expensive and often unsuccessful." Issues surrounding jamming include the potential to interrupt other communications, such as those of first responders like police and firefighters, agencies like the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) and even the communication of bees, according to CSC documents reported by technology news site Motherboard in 2014. The documents were redacted to eliminate information about whether CSC used jammers despite those problems. CSC has asked for ideas on how to deal with the problem in the past. It issued a tender in August 2012 saying it was looking for a solution to stop the use of contraband mobile devices in prisons. “One aspect of that approach that does not deal with the physical devices themselves is to deny access of the mobile device to any source of communication or data transfer,” it said. The tender outlined that the agency was looking for a “Mobile Device Access Denial Service (MDADS) Project,” and asked for input from industry experts about the best approach to take. In 2015, it issued another letter of interest looking for feedback on its plans regarding a “Radiofrequency Interdiction Technology solution” that would prevent illicit radiofrequency communication. — With reporting by Kyle Duggan at kduggan@thewirereport.ca and Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Ottawa struggles to stop prisoners from using illicit mobile devices

News | October 26, 2018

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Ottawa struggles to stop prisoners from using illicit mobile devices

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