The severity of the mobile phone problem in French prisons
Recently, Mohamed Amra successfully escaped from prison and continued to use mobile phones to manage his drug network during his escape, resulting in the death of two agents. This incident highlights the prevalence and harm of mobile phones in prisons. Every year, French prison authorities seize tens of thousands of mobile phones during detention, but these devices continue to flow into prisons and become tools for prisoners to continue to engage in criminal activities.
signal jammers as a potential solution to illegal mobile phone use
Yann Bastière, national representative of the United Union, pointed out that while it is almost impossible to prevent mobile phones from entering prisons, preventing their use by installing signal jammers is a viable solution. Jammers can cut off prisoners' communications with the outside world, thereby preventing them from continuing to organize criminal activities. However, although jammers are seen as the key to solving this problem, their application faces multiple challenges in terms of cost and technology.
High cost and technical limitations of jammers
Emmanuel Baudin, secretary general of the FO Ministry of Justice, pointed out that currently less than thirty prisons in France are equipped with jammers, mainly due to their high cost. Each mobile phone jammer costs nearly one million euros, which makes it difficult for many prisons to afford it. In addition, the application of jammers in downtown prisons also faces technical difficulties, because strong interference signals may affect the communications of nearby residents, especially key facilities such as hospitals.
The need for technological updates and classified management
Another problem that needs to be solved is that many jammers can no longer effectively block 4G signals, and their coverage is also limited. Baudin suggested that prisoners should be classified and managed according to their degree of danger, and appropriate technical equipment should be equipped in different prisons. He stressed that not all prisoners are at risk of escaping or continuing to commit crimes, so it is necessary to deploy equipment such as jammers and drones according to specific circumstances to improve the overall security of prisons.