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The inmates are operating their own Facebook pages, despite the fact that they aren’t allowed to use social media.
More than 100 Tennessee inmates reportedly have access to the Internet, where they’re posting Facebook photos and videos of themselves surrounded by drugs, cash and piles of junk food.
“Between me and you, this s--- ain't half bad," one inmate said in a video.
Tennessee’s Department of Corrections combed through 14 state prisons after the images were discovered on social media by WSMV. Along with marijuana and a 7-inch ice pick, authorities found a total of 53 cell phones — a luxury that is banned in the state’s prison system.
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More than 100 Tennessee inmates have posted videos to Facebook showing off their ‘relaxing’ lifestyles.
Seventy inmates were disciplined following the investigation. All were convicted criminals. Some were murderers and rapists.
Their victims’ families were outraged after seeing evidence that the prisoners have the ability to communicate with the outside world through Facebook. Some of the inmates have even posted their phone numbers online so that people can give them a ring.
Michelle Elliot’s grandmother, Mary Sadler, was strangled and murdered by an inmate named Ivan Moreno. WSMV found Moreno on Facebook, playing a guitar in his cell.
dee spag via YouTube ‘Obviously, it's an issue,’ TDOC Assistant Commissioner Tony Parker said.
"My eyes started watering. I started shaking. I couldn't believe I could see him again," Elliot told the news channel.
Convicted murderer Brandon White was pictured holding his phone and $200 in cash.
His victim, Ryan Wright, was shot to death inside an SUV in 2009.
dee spag via YouTube ‘That’s not punishment,’ said one mother who found her son’s killer online. ‘It's still freedom for them.’
Wright’s mother, Linda Wright, wants to know how a “menace to society” has access to social media.
"That's not punishment. That's not any kind of punishment. It's just like being out on the outside. It's still freedom for them," said Linda Wright. “[My son and I] can never communicate again. And he (Brandon White) has access to be able to communicate with the outside world."
After seeing the images, the Corrections Department’s assistant commissioner Tony Parker admitted they were a “flagrant” violation of prison security.
"Every correctional facility struggles with contraband. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's the reality," Parker told WSMV. "It's not an issue of not enough correctional officers. It's an issue of a nationwide problem with cell phones and the struggle to stay on top of it.”
dee spag via YouTube After launching an investigation in 14 of Tennessee’s state prisons, authorities confiscated 53 cell phones.
The inmates apparent access to the outside world sparked concerns that they might be using Facebook to organize crimes.
"It's disturbing, it's offensive and dangerous," West Tennessee District Attorney Mike Dunavant told WAFB.
Dunavant says that criminals aren’t allowed to bring cell phones into Tennessee prisons. However, it is okay for them to possess phones once they’re inside.
He said this loophole needs to be fixed.
"It's certainly offensive to victims of crime and to citizens of this state who really expect inmates will not have access to the Internet, not have the luxuries of Facebook as we have," Dunavant said.
