the cell phones of detainees finally neutralized by wave jammers in mid-2022?
Many GT films himself in yellow and black outfits using his cell phone, and shares the video with his rapper accomplices. The leader of the Daltons has still been imprisoned for weeks in Lyon-Corbas prison. From his cell, he found the time to get a cell phone and had no trouble using it.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg, because dozens of films are filmed every day and feed social networks, and in particular Snapchat, in short films.
For many commentators, it is outrage. If the fight against internal cell phone traffic is so complicated, why not jam the airwaves? After all, prison staff leave their belongings in lockers at the entrance and only communicate using walkie-talkie-type radios at well-designated frequencies.
And Nicole Belloubet, Minister of Justice in 2018, had promised that all French prisons would have announced. Since then, a minimum of 125 million euros have been spent, for inconclusive results.
The problem is, such devices are expensive. But above all, they become obsolete at high speed since the generations of mobile telephony standards evolve. An effective jammer against 4G is not necessarily effective with 5G. And today, there are few calls made other than with WhatsApp-type applications, which use the mobile web.
During an impromptu visit to the prison carried out last week with Senator LR du Rhône Etienne Blanc, the journalists from LyonMag were able to see that their phones were still working perfectly. Director Daniel Willemot then confirmed to us that no device was currently deployed in Corbas. But effective jamming would be installed in mid-2022. Effective even against 5G?
Demonstrations to fear?
It remains to know the reaction of the detainees in Lyon. In mid-September, a demonstration broke out in Rennes-Vezin prison where jammers have just been installed. Five prisoners refused to return to their cells after the walk, while others tried to set the boxes on fire.
A few months earlier, it was at the Toulouse-Seysses remand center that the same protest had to be put down. In addition to the refusal to return to the cells, inmates simulated headaches, according to them, by the jammers.
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The visit of the LyonMag editorial staff to the Lyon-Corbas prison will be the subject of a more complete file to be found in our next January issue, available on newsstands from December 29.