Prisoners Using Social Media to Harass Victims.

United States – People who are victims of crimes may not be able to rest safely when their attackers are behind bars – at least for now.

Through the smuggling of the phones into their cells, prisoners are gaining access to cell phones at an alarming rate, California prison officials found more than 12-thousand phones in ten months' time. Six years ago 261 phones were confiscated in the same amount of time. After they set up Facebook accounts, they use the website to contact their victims or intimidate witnesses.

Timothy Heaphy, a U.S. attorney, said criminals' use of social networks to reach witnesses made his job harder.

"We deal every day with witnesses who are afraid of being identified. If there are increased instances where folks who are incarcerated can reach outside the walls of the jail, that's going to make it more difficult for us to get cooperation." He said.

Rob Bovett, an Oregon district attorney, said the increasing numbers is troublesome and the law isn't catching up with technology.  Along with the obvious smuggling issue that arises in the prisons, it can also be hard to determine who exactly is sending the messages. Those who are caught rarely face any punishments.