Mexico to block cell phone signals in prisons

Mexico City, June 1 (IANS/EFE) Mexican authorities will install mobile network jammer devices in prisons to curb use of cell phones by inmates and check crimes.

Of the total 429 jails, devices will be installed in 78 prisons which house 75 percent inmates of the country. The move will help in checking crimes such as extortion and kidnapping, mostly carried out by prisoners with the help of cell phones, Reforma newspaper reported.

The report said that 85 percent of the mobile phones are brought to the prisons by security guards and the rest by visitors with clearance from the authorities. Guards also sell mobile phones to inmates and collect a monthly “rental” from them.

–IANS/EFE