USDOJ/OIG Special Report

CRIMINAL CALLS: A REVIEW OF THE

BUREAU OF PRISONS’ MANAGEMENT OF

INMATE TELEPHONE PRIVILEGES

(August, 1999)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1. Overview
2. The OIG Review
3. Organization of Report

CHAPTER TWO: FEDERAL INMATE ACCESS TO TELEPHONES

1. Background on the BOP
2. Background on Inmate Telephone Use in the BOP
   1. The BOP Philosophy on Inmate Use of Telephones
   2. History of Inmate Access to Telephones
   3. Inmate Telephone Abuse and the BOP 's Early Responses
   4. The Development of the Inmate Telephone System
      1. Features and Installation of the System
      2. Washington v. Reno
      3. Current Telephone Systems in BOP Facilities
      4. ITS II
      5. Inmate Telephone Use in State Prisons

CHAPTER THREE: LEGAL AND REGULATORY BACKGROUND

1. BOP Policy and Practice
2. Prohibited Acts
3. SIS Role

CHAPTER FOUR: OIG REVIEW OF INMATE TELEPHONE ABUSE

1. Determining the Scope of Inmate Telephone Abuse
2. OIG Data Collection
3. OIG Field Visits and Survey of ITS Institutions
   1. Current Calling Patterns
   2. Current BOP Monitoring Efforts
   3. The SIS Office
   4. Disciplinary Sanctions for Telephone Abuse
4. FBI Information
   1. Williamsport, Pennsylvania FBI Office
   2. Survey of FBI Field Offices
5. DEA Information
6. Surveys of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices
   1. 1995 USAO Survey
   2. OIG 1998 Survey of USAOs

CHAPTER FIVE: OIG CASE STUDIES OF INMATE TELEPHONE ABUSE

1. Rayful Edmond III and Related Cases
   1. Rayful Edmond III
      1. FBI Opens Investigation of Edmond
      2. The OIG Interview of Edmond
   2. Jose Naranjo
   3. Freddy Aguilera and Nelson Garcia
   4. OIG Conclusions About Case Studies of Edmond, Naranjo, Aguilera, and Garcia
2. Anthony Jones
   1. Background
   2. Facts of Jones’ case
   3. OIG’s Conclusions regarding BOP’s handling of Jones’s case
3. Oreste Abbamonte
4. OIG Review of Selected Inmate Files

CHAPTER SIX: RECENT BOP CORRECTIVE EFFORTS

1. 1996 BOP Working Group
2. The Director's Letter to Wardens and Executive Staff
3. Attorney General's Working Group
4. Wardens' Working Group
   1. Working Group Recommendations
   2. Review by Federal Programs Branch Attorneys
   3. Review by BOP Office of General Counsel
   4. Decision on Working Group’s Recommendations
5. BOP’s National Strategic Planning Objective 5.11
6. Congressional Change in Trust Fund Language

CHAPTER SEVEN: ANALYSIS

1. Cap on Inmate Calls
2. BOP’s Failure to Devote Sufficient Resources to the Problem
   1. Training
   2. Insufficient Staffing
3. Restriction of Telephone Privileges as a Matter of Classification
4. Increase in Disciplinary Sanctions for Inmate Telephone Abuse
5. Use of Administrative Punishments
6. Other Possible Methods of Restricting Privileges
7. BOP Penological Interests in Providing Telephone Access
8. BOP’s Misplaced Reliance on New Technology
   1. Small Improvements with ITS II
   2. Failure to Coordinate within BOP on the Development and Implementation of ITS II
   3. New Telephone Technology
      1. Speaker Identification
      2. Speech Recognition

CHAPTER EIGHT: RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Monitoring of Inmate Telephone Calls
2. Discipline
3. Proactive Restrictions of Privileges
4. Role of SIS Officer

CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Washington v. Reno

Appendix 2: ITS II Features

Appendix 3: Information from the FBI: Crimes by Inmates Using Prison Telephones

Appendix 4: Information from the DEA: Crimes by Inmates Using Prison Telephones

Appendix 5: Legal Analysis: Restrictions on Correspondence as a Matter of Classification

TABLES

Table 1: Inmate Telephone Activity and BOP Practices.

Table 2: Federal Prosecutions of Cases Involving Inmates Using the Telephone to Facilitate a Crime, Survey by D.C. USAO, 1995.

Table 3: Federal Prosecutions of Cases Involving Inmates Using the Telephone to Facilitate a Crime, Survey by DOJ OIG, 1998.

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