Oklahoma Inmates Concerned DOC's Cellphone Intercept Program Puts Them At Risk

Some Oklahoma prisoners are worried that the state Department of Corrections is putting their lives at risk.

Starting next month, Oklahoma Department of Corrections inmates will wear monitors that detect illegal cellphone activity. 

Corrections officials said they will utilize inmate volunteers for the pilot program.

The problem potential volunteers said they face could come from other inmates. Word of DOC’s cellphone intercept project has spread behind bars and concerned prisoners have warned their friends and family on the outside.

One man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said his brother reached out to him.

“He’s gonna get in trouble by the inmates, and get hurt or maybe they can send a hit out of their family in the streets,” said a concerned citizen.

His brother is housed at Lexington Assessment and Reception Center where DOC is taking volunteers to wear the technology that detects cellphone signals. The purpose is to crackdown on illegal activity that happens through cellphones.

“It messes up a source of either income or to even talk to their family,” said the concerned citizen.

State corrections officials said prisoners use cellphones to coordinate inmate disturbances and run drug operations inside and outside of prison walls.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics took down a crime ring that was run by two inmates in the McAlester state prison. During the investigation, agents learned the men were using contraband cellphones to communicate with methamphetamine dealers on the streets.

“They were continuing to be the biggest suppliers in the Anadarko area and they were behind bars,” said Mark Woodward, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Besides the potential danger of wearing the monitors, prisoners face possible punishment if they are non-compliant.

“The prison told him that anybody that don’t participate and turns down the offer to wear the bracelet is gonna get shipped to another yard or wrote up,” said the concerned citizen.

DOC officials said they do have safety protocols in place for inmates who wear the monitors and would not punish someone if they was a viable threat to their safety.