National Emergency Alert System Test Leads To Busts of Inmates With Cell Phones

On Wednesday, a national emergency alert system test was sent to millions of cell phone users by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and FCC to ensure emergency alerts reach the public at a national level.

But it also led to a bug bust among inmates who aren’t supposed to have cellphones.

Cellphones received both a test message and a loud alert noise, which was a bad thing for the prisoners hiding phones.

A New York State Prison official told TMZ they confiscated two phones at Sing Sing Correctional Facility during the test, and a source at FCI Coleman Low in Florida said they also confiscated two phones during the emergency test.

It’s likely the alert led to other busts across the nation as well. But some inmates were ahead of the alert. At least that’s what a source in Nevada told the outlet, saying most of their prisoners were already aware the alert was going to take place and likely turned their phones off, so they didn’t confiscate any devices.

Cell phone usage by inmates has become a growing problem, and officials have implemented new tactics in trying to locate them — including phone-sniffing dogs called “E-Dogs.”