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> It gives one something to think about the next time one is taking a plane trip or attending an event with a security checkpoint. If prisons cannot keep banned items out or from being used, how can airport security or event security do so when their powers are much more limited than the powers of prison authorities?

I mean, it's been amply documented that they can't. I wish we'd drop the security theater; there is no way it's a good tradeoff.

Most contraband is not hooped (stored in the butt). It comes from crooked sheriffs and police officers whose union prevents their being searched properly before entering and exiting work.

I worked as a state security guard in college.

90% plus of the shenanigans were carried off by security personnel, Insiders, and local cops.

I basically watched a hugh building in San Francisco on the weekends.

I only spoke up when they tried to blame it on public, or the homeless. Blaming the homeless was a go to. I remember they tried to blame the homeless for stealing 10 tons of electrical switching gear. Gear so heavy, it needed special fork lift to move. By speaking up--meaning I just refused to go along with them blaming innocent people for their thefts, but I knew my place.

Whenever their was a theft, or break-in; I just knew it was an inside job. The denial was huge. I personally didn't care, I just didn't want to get shot.

My boss was the most honest man I have ever known though. I think he knew how corrupt the "good guys" were, but knew not to rock the boat. He had a good heart too. They would reprimand him for feeding the cats, but he really loved all animals. Very few men left a good impression on me, but I still think about him.

> that it is actually possible for a significant number of prisoners to keep their smuggled items hidden once they get them in

Read 'Papillon' by Henri Charrière. The autobiography of a long-term prison inmate. Well written. It's amazing what people do to maintain some small freedoms in a coercive environment.

Honestly I'm not sure why prisons wouldn't be a little pleased that inmates are sneaking in cellphones. The prison could run a stingray on site and collect, at a minimum, the metadata about calls and I would imagine full recordings of calls.

What you're missing is that the guards are complicit. Some identify more with their inmates than with the outside world.

I don't think it is even that...look at how much your average corrections officer or law enforcement officer is paid...and then ask yourself why so many of them can be corrupted by a little bit of money.

Or coerced by blackmailing their family. Many prisoners belong to gangs which have members and influence outside the prison walls.

Is it impossible for the TSA to be complicit?

I'm curious what bribery prevention mechanisms exist, for example.

You can never underestimate the creativity of people who have virtually unlimited time on their hands.

For all but the most violent of offenders, it's not worthwhile to spend the kind of money one would need to regulate their every activity.

It’s not that amazing, for one they only have the illusion of complete control, and for another many of them are wildly corrupt. How do you think many of those drugs and bits of contraband get to the prison in the first place?