BUFORD | Official warns of phone smuggling in prisons | News

ATLANTA -- Georgia Department of Corrections commissioner Brian Owens sounded off Wednesday about an "epidemic" in illegal cell phones smuggled into the state's prisons.

Owens told lawmakers that officials confiscated more than 8,500 phones in state prisons over the last 18 months. He said 330 civilians and 63 staff members were charged with trying to smuggle contraband inside the prisons, and most involved cell phones.

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Owens also said inmates aren't trying to call their moms on Christmas or their wives on anniversaries. He said "it's about gangs, power and money."

The smugglers have gone to great lengths; officials at Phillips State Prison in Buford found a dead cat stuffed with eight phones that someone tried to throw into the prison, Owens said.

Smugglers face up to five years in prison if convicted.