Prison phone smuggling common in Calif.

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SACRAMENTO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- California prison groups say 20 employees who have resigned or been fired were caught smuggling inmates cellphones.

Most of the instances found guards or other prison employees brought in the cellphones illegally for money though in a handful of instances female guards who had developed romantic relationships did so for that reason. The Los Angeles Times reported one prison employee was suspected of smuggling in a phone to a man who is suspected of fathering her child and quit when investigators wanted a DNA sample.

The state inspector general reported 54 instances where an employee was accused of smuggling in a cellphone. Of those, 20 resulted in an employee's termination or resignation. Thirteen times the charges were dropped and the rest remain under investigation, the newspaper reported.

Under California law, smuggling a cellphone to a prison inmate is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine though the report said shoddy oversight has made prosecuting violators next to impossible.