Althouse: "It's troubling that he had a cellphone since he's a person who got other people to murder on his behalf."

December 3, 2010

"It's troubling that he had a cellphone since he's a person who got other people to murder on his behalf."

Charles Manson had a cell phone.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...: There's a great thing on youtube where these guys who are apparently far too into the Manson family have clips of them talking to a rambling Manson on the phone. I always wondered how they could talk to the guy so much. Now I know.; 12/3/10, 8:28 AM
AllenS said...: That's nothing. This is something.; 12/3/10, 8:30 AM
ndspinelli said...: State prisons are, to varying degrees, poorly run and corrupt. One of my first jobs out of college was @ USP Leavenworth. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, while by no means perfect, is probably one of the best run Federal agencies.

Cell phones have become the hottest item in prisons. The vast majority of contraband that comes into prisons is via corrupt staff. Some contraband comes in via visitation, but it's miniscule compared to whay is brought in by staff.

Finally, will Charles Manson please die. It can be of natural causes..in his sleep, but just please die.; 12/3/10, 8:35 AM
Clyde said...: Do you think his ringtone was "Helter Skelter"?; 12/3/10, 8:36 AM
ndspinelli said...: Allen, good link about inmates receiving fraudulent tax refunds. There was an IRS bureaucrat on CNBC yesterday trying to cover his ass on this issue.; 12/3/10, 8:39 AM
AllenS said...: Yeah, and we wonder why the country is going broke.; 12/3/10, 8:41 AM
Wince said...: Thus, lending new meaning to the term Friends and Family Plan.; 12/3/10, 8:54 AM
MadisonMan said...: An inspector general's report last year noted that the phones fetch up to $1,000 each and highlighted the case of a corrections officer who made $150,000 in a single year by supplying the devices to inmates. He was fired, the report said. Criminal charges were not an option.

Too bad California lawmakers are too busy to pass a prudent law.; 12/3/10, 8:55 AM
ndspinelli said...: It was working in a well run Federal prison that I came to the realization that trying to keep drugs out of this country by means of law enforcement was insane.

There are no 4th amendment rights in prison. However, even in a well run, maximun security prison, drugs and other contraband get into the prison population. How the hell can you keep it out of a country. If there is demand, there will be supply.; 12/3/10, 9:00 AM
Lucien said...: Yeah, but, it's not like he's the worst person in the world. Heck, that's Bristol Palin.

I mean, show some perspective, folks.; 12/3/10, 9:01 AM
Fred4Pres said...: I took my daughter's cell phone away for a while because she was texting too much.

Charles Manson should not have a cell phone.; 12/3/10, 9:04 AM
Robert Cook said...: Thank God! I thought I was going crazy, hearing a voice in my head at night telling me to "Kill! Kill! Kill!" to the background of faintly familiar pop music.

It's just Charlie Manson and he somehow got my phone number.

I can stop taking the anti-pscyh meds and just put a block on his calls!; 12/3/10, 9:12 AM
jimbino said...: We wouldn't have a problem if we had any politicians or administrators familiar with simple physics.

All that is needed to prohibit cellphone signals from entering a prison is to fabricate the prison walls using a Faraday Cage (continuous metal screen with holes about the size of the cellphone signal's wavelength).

If ungrounded, it will block all signals from outside. If grounded, it will stop all signals from within as well. That's how a microwave oven is shielded to protect users from microwave radiation. Tinfoil could be used!

Prison officials could still communicate by cellphone from within simply by entering a secured phone booth fitted with a landline or an antenna to the outside.; 12/3/10, 10:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Another hilarious thing about this: I got a couple defendants who are locked up in federal prison. I'm trying to set up depositions. It's hell calling to talk to them through the prison system. All kinds of procedure.

I wish I could just get their cell numbers.; 12/3/10, 10:10 AM
The Drill SGT said...: We've got tech that solves the problem.

1. Interrogate the 3 nearest cell towers for the numbers who are reporting to them.

2. force your prison staff to register the numbers of any phones that they want to bring in for their use. (or I can't bring a phone into a SCIF. why doesnt a guard have to leave his phone in his pick-up like I do, when I go to work)

3. SOF guys have a number of hand held devices that can track one of more cell phone numbers. feed to box the list of numbers from Step 1.; 12/3/10, 10:40 AM
Unknown said...: What's troubling is the the people running the prison were dumb enough to give him a phone in the first place.

Clyde said...

Do you think his ringtone was "Helter Skelter"?

No, "American Pie".

Helter skelter
in a summer swelter

My 21st birthday.; 12/3/10, 10:45 AM
William said...: Manson looks lean and fit. There's a good chance that he will outlive me. Plus he probably knows how to operate all those buttons on a cell phone. That's my depressing thought for the day.; 12/3/10, 10:56 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Bwaaaaa-hahahaha-hahahaha-hahahaha!!!!; 12/3/10, 11:03 AM
Phil 314 said...: Does he have a Facebook page too?; 12/3/10, 11:10 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Ray LaHood, our Sec of Transportation, claims there is technology that can disable cell phones in cars.; 12/3/10, 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...: inmates sometimes hide devices in their body cavities

Why is this cellphone brown and smelly?

Peter; 12/3/10, 1:28 PM
Anonymous said...: inmates sometimes hide devices in their body cavities

Why is this cellphone brown and smelly?

Peter; 12/3/10, 1:28 PM
Ankur said...: How hard can it be to

1) Install cellphone jammers? they are fairly inexpensive. Of course, its a state prison and the state has no money. Take it out of Manson's food rations.

or

2) Request cellphone companies to use cellular triangulation to block calls originating or terminating in a prison? This is fairly easy to do - although it would cost the telecom companies some revenue. As for the guards, police officers who wouldn't be able to use their cellphones - this is your workplace. You have no business yakking on a cellphone anyway. Use the darn landlines.

or

3) Secretly allow conversations (just block edge or 3G, again based on triangulation - this will avoid the possibility of any encrypted information being transmitted). Snoop on the secretly allowed conversations (under a court warrant, if you suspect future crimes being organized from the cell). This has potential for abuse, of course.; 12/3/10, 1:46 PM
The Drill SGT said...: Why is this cellphone brown and smelly?

inmates and drug mules excel at using condoms as containers

Snoop on the secretly allowed conversations (under a court warrant, if you suspect future crimes being organized from the cell). This has potential for abuse, of course.

I suspect, given that the State already has the ability to monitor all legal calls in and out without a warrant that illegal calls from illegal cell phones could be done w/o a warrant as well :); 12/3/10, 1:57 PM
Deb said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/3/10, 5:19 PM
MarkD said...: Just have the TSA scan visitors and the prison staff.; 12/3/10, 5:34 PM