BILL NUMBER: SB 26	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Padilla

                        DECEMBER 6, 2010

   An act relating to prisons.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 26, as introduced, Padilla. Prisons: cell phones.
   Existing law prohibits unauthorized communication with inmates in
state prison.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to impose sanctions for the possession of cell phones and
other wireless devices by inmates in state prisons.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) In 2006, prison officials confiscated 261 cell phones in
California prisons.
   (b) In 2009, 6,995 cell phones were confiscated in California
prisons.
   (c) According to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
prison officials have found 7,000 cell phones in California prisons
since January 1, 2010, which would amount to another record year of
seizures, at a projected rate of over 9,600 cell phones in 2010.
   For these reasons, it is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to impose sanctions for the possession of cell phones and
other wireless devices by inmates in state prisons.