News : Cell Phones: Inmates have full access, but calls are monitored, recorded

Different kind of 'Cell' service: Inmates will have phones, but all calls will be recorded.

In the jail area of the new Benton County Law Enforcement Center, a a familiar shape and a distinctive color stands out among the drab grey, white and tan of the floor, walls and doors.

Phones -- bright blue phones -- will be available for use by Benton County inmates throughout daytime hours (between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.).

But, explains Sheriff Randy Forsyth explains, the phones come with some significant strings - and costs to the inmates - attached.

When the flood forced the county to move its jail to the temporary facility at the old Lincoln school, Forsyth agreed to try a phone service designed especially for prison inmates.

"All of the calls are monitored and recorded," said the sheriff. Inmates either must use a pre-paid calling card, or make collect calls. The friends or relatives of the inmates can also call the jail to pay via credit card for minutes for a specific inmate.

The service is not cheap to use, said Forsyth.

"You would not want to accept a collect call from the jail; it's about $3 per minute," he said.

Forsyth said the phone system is working well in the temporary jail. Another security feature is that it allows the blocking of certain numbers, so inmates would not be permitted, for example, to call a judge from jail.

The phones are located in the day room which two inmates will share during the day. During night hours, the inmates are locked alone in their cells, without the phones.

The phones, along with skylights and 32-inch flat-screen television sets, have caused a little grumbling during some meetings of the Benton County supervisors. Some people and leaders have said during these meetings that citizens should not have to pay for such amenities for the prisoners.

Supervisor Dave Vermedahl disagrees.

One of Vermedahl's previous jobs was as a prison guard at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Anamosa. He said that while working as a prison guard, he learned that giving prisoners enough lighting and other benefits helps create a more happy, and thus more peaceful, prison population.

Forsyth agrees as well, saying the phones have worked well in the temporary jail. He said that although the official hours for prisoners to be confined alone in their cells are between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., he has offered flexibility in the hours in which they can remain in the day rooms, as long as prisoners are behaving.

"If they want to watch the news, or a playoff game, we will let them do that," said Forsyth.

The sheriff and his staff will begin moving into the building at the end of May; the communications equipment change to the new location will take place the first weekend in June.