Prisoners’ Facebook Profiles Will Be Shut Down

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has recently announced a new partnership with Facebook to disable the profiles of any prisoners who have updated their statuses since incarceration.

A prisoner’s updated Facebook status indicates either the presence of a cellphone in prison, which is against prison rules, or that someone on the “outside” is maintaining the profile on behalf of the inmate, which is against Facebook’s user policies.

The CDCR’s press release details the danger of inmate access to a cellphone and social networks:

Last year, CDCR received a call from a mother of a victim of a child molester. The family had just returned from vacation to find several pieces of mail from the offender who was in state prison. The mail contained accurate drawings of the woman’s 17-year old daughter, even though it had been at least seven years since the offender had been convicted and sent to prison. Details of the victim, such as how she wore her hair and the brand of clothes she wore were accurate. An investigation revealed the inmate had used a cell phone to find and view the MySpace and Facebook web pages of the victim. With access to the pages, the offender was able to obtain current photos, which he used to draw his pictures.

CDCR spokesperson Dana Toyama confirmed to the Huffington Post that this problem is “widespread and rampant,” saying “shotcallers” are using cellphones to coordinate with gang members on the street to harass or intimidate witnesses and prior victims.

In the first six months of 2011, more than 7,284 prison cellphones were confiscated, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This number outpaces last year’s rate, when over 10,760 cellphones were confiscated from California prisons, according to KTLA.

The LA Times reports that California prison guards are suspected of being the primary smugglers of contraband cellphones, which can net up to $1,000 each.

Toyama pointed out the “huge loophole” in regards to enforcing prison rules against cellphones. Since it’s not technically illegal to possess a cellphone in prison, nor is it technically illegal for a guard to smuggle a cellphone, the worst punishment that could be meted out is that a prisoner loses “good time credits” or that a guard could be fired.

Currently state Senator Alex Padilla is sponsoring a bill that would make prison cellphone smuggling a crime. If signed, the law would mandate up to a $5,000 fine for state employees caught with cellphones. A non-employee could catch an additional 6 months in jail for this violation.

For now, Toyama emphasizes that the effort to tamp down on criminal conduct via cellphones in prison is “all-encompassing.” It includes information from gang intelligence units, tips from the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights, and reports from parole officers in addition to prison and Facebook security diligence. For instance, if a prisoner is released on parole, they would be restricted from contacting or collaborating with known gang members, says Toyama. That means that even being “Facebook friends” could be a violation that could land a felon in parole revocation proceedings.

If you know of a Facebook account that is being updated by an inmate or on behalf of an inmate, contact CDCR’s Office of Victim and Survivor Rights Services at 1-877-256-6877 or victimservices@cdcr.ca.gov.

Photo courtesy of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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Mammoliti: ‘If I get a smell of communism, they’re off the (Facebook) page’

Tips for people who want to join Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti’s new Facebook group: Don’t wear a Che Guevara shirt in your profile picture. Don’t list Das Kapital as one of your Favourite Books. Do, perhaps, consider listing Joseph McCarthy as one of the People Who Inspire You.

Don Cherry went after “pinkos” at Mayor Rob Ford’s inauguration. Now Mammoliti, the conservative and controversy-courting Ford ally, is going after people he sees as reds. To get his approval to join the group he started Monday — “Save the City..Support the Ford Administration” — you must not emit the sour odour of “communism,” he said Tuesday.

“I’m really sick and tired of hearing from the communists in this city,” he said in an interview. “I don’t want anything to do with them. I don’t want to listen to them. I don’t want to listen to their griping and their whining. I want to listen to people who are clearly working for a living, and wanting their tax dollars to be used in a particular way. I’m clearly trying to wean out the typical communist thinker who will be doing nothing but whining.”

Mammoliti was a union leader in the 1980s and New Democratic Party MPP in the early 1990s before making a sharp turn to the right. He has frequently referred to citizens who have spoken against budget cuts at committee meetings as out-of-touch and self-interested “socialists.” “Communists” appears to be new.

The group had 588 members as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Mammoliti, who often seems to delight in inflaming his opponents, said he had not yet rejected any applicants.

“But I will be monitoring their comments,” he said, “and if I get a smell of communism, they’re off the page.” Asked by a laughing reporter how he would smell communism, Mammoliti laughed and said, “Only Mammoliti has that keen sense of smell.”

His olfactory system appears to have failed him already. Jordy Cummings, an actual Marxist whose Facebook page features hammer-and-sickle images, wrote: “Well I’m a communist, and Giorgio didn’t ban me. Giorgio is a decent individual, this is just his persona in the media.”

Of the 169 citizens who spoke to Ford’s executive committee at an all-night meeting two weeks ago, all but three opposed any kind of cuts to city programs and services. But Councillor Doug Ford, Mammoliti and Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, another member of Ford’s executive, have dismissed the anti-cuts speakers as unrepresentative of the broader population.

“This site is really for those that have not got a chance to get to City Hall and depute,” Mammoliti wrote on the group page.

Group members have indeed proven friendlier to Ford’s small-government ideology than the meeting deputants. One said “we can easily find 10 libraries to close.” Another endorsed private child care, saying “we don’t need any more socialized daycare for condo-owning yuppies who can afford to pay for a full-time nanny.” And one signed off for the night as follows: “Thanks for this Giorgio. We have long felt shut out.”

Other group members, however, have denounced Ford and Mammoliti. Several complained that critical posts had been deleted. One wrote, “It’s distressing that a member of city council. . . would elect to delete the voice of the people — any people — when they express their opinions after being invited to do so. It’s called discourse.”

Mammoliti said he had deleted nothing but a rap video, which appears to have been for the Beastie Boys classic “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party).”

A group member reposted the video, saying, “Giorgio, not sure if you removed this or for some reason I didn’t do it right…anyway, we all got to fight for our right to party and have a good city!”

Mammoliti responded: “I agree but it’s not the place for it…sorry.”

Mammoliti is a proud Twitter skeptic who refers to postings on that social media website as “twits.” He said he was now at least willing to consider starting an account.

“It’s baby steps for this twit,” he said.

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