Facebook is teaming up with California prison authorities to disable Facebook accounts that belong to prisoners that are updated while they are incarcerated.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that the effort was designed to protect the community and prevent prisoners from using the social network or mobile phones to deliver unwanted sexual advances or threats.
“Access to social media allows inmates to circumvent our monitoring process and continue to engage in criminal activity,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. “This new cooperation between law enforcement and Facebook will help protect the community and potentially avoid future victims.”
Although it is not illegal for prisoners to keep their Facebook profiles that were created before they were incarcerated, they are prohibited from accessing and updating them while they are locked up. However, prison authorities in California say that there are inmates who still have access to their Facebook accounts, either from the inside or with the help from outside the prison.
Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said that the company will disable accounts of inmates that are violating US laws or regulations, or prisoner accounts that are being updated by someone on the outside.
Prison officials are also trying to fight the huge influx of contraband mobile phones in prisons. Last year, authorities confiscated 10,760 contraband cellphones from inmates, up from 261 phones in 2006.
High-profile mass murderer Charles Manson, leader of the Manson Family, was caught with a mobile phone for the second time earlier this year.
via: Electric Pig
