Problem requires federal help
State prison officials made it clear to a legislative interim study this week that cracking down on contraband cellphones will require federal help.
The illegal cellphones are a major problem for prisons in Oklahoma and across the country. Inmates use the devices to coordinate criminal activity outside of prison walls and to stir up trouble inside the prisons.
Last month, gang-related fights broke out at six Oklahoma prions within a 24-hour period, leaving one inmate dead and several injured. The fights were facilitated by communication among inmates via contraband cellphones.
Gov. Kevin Stitt subsequently directed the Department of Corrections and two members of his Cabinet to pursue technical solutions to address the problem. However, corrections officials who testified before lawmakers this week said jamming cellphone signals would be most effective — but they can't do that. Only federal agencies can.
“Until we can sort out the federal law, until we can sort out how that's going to work, I don't see that we're going to make a lot of headway,” said Mike Carpenter, the DOC's correctional chief of security. “Do I think jamming would work? I think jamming would work absolutely.”
Technology exists that can jam cellphone signals in specific parts of buildings, and has been tested successfully in prison systems elsewhere. The Federal Communications System needs to clear the way for states to use that technology, and thus give prison officials a better chance to contain this dangerous problem.
`Absolutely innocent' but willing to deal
Last year, Steven K. Snyder was fired as head of the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System after coming under criminal investigation. Snyder, 62, of Edmond, wound up being charged with six felony counts accusing him of submitting to the state false travel claims and fraudulent time sheets. It was alleged Snyder committed fraud by disguising personal trips as business expenses, for which he was reimbursed $26,000. Last week he reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the attorney general's office and the criminal charge was expunged. Snyder “steadfastly maintains he's absolutely innocent” of the fraud charge, his attorney declared. Yet on the other hand, Snyder agreed never to work for the state again, to perform 200 hours of community service, give up some of his accrued leave, pay back roughly $5,900 in restitution to the retirement system, pay $1,000 to the state's victims compensation fund, and agree not to sue the state over being fired.
`Lynching' reference by Trump another mistake
Per usual, President Trump's addiction to Twitter got him in trouble this week. Trump posted a tweet in which he called the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry a “lynching.” He was criticized swiftly by politicians on both sides of the aisle, and rightly so. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said on Twitter, “You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What the hell is wrong with you?” California Sen. Kamala Harris called lynching a “reprehensible stain on this nation's history … to invoke that torture to whitewash your own corruption is disgraceful.” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, said he understood Trump's “absolute rejection” of the impeachment process, but added, “I wouldn't use the word lynching.” The president certainly shouldn't have, either. As The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial, “... no president should use the word in the off-hand and selfindulgent way that Mr. Trump did in his tweet.”
Warren's proposed `fix' for public education
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren issued her K-12 education plan this week. The long and short of it: Warren would spend $800 billion more, give or take, on traditional public schools (paid for with her wealth tax) and do all she could to curb charter school growth. Her plan includes making breakfast and lunch free and canceling existing student meal debt; decriminalizing truancy; and spending at least an additional $50 billion to address inequities in school infrastructure. “The federal government must step in,” she said. That includes ending federal funding for the expansion of charter schools, and backing the NAACP's call to let school districts serve as the sole authorizers of charter schools. The latter would essentially end charter school growth, which is the point. Warren loves to demonize the wealthy, but her plan for charters would hurt those at the other end of the spectrum — predominantly low-income students and their families who have benefited from charters.