Just a stones throw from our southern border outside of San Diego sits Donovan State Prison and its 4,300 inmates housed in the medium security facility. As the sun rises over the Otay Mountains, the prison lights begin to dim and the tan, cement sided buildings begin to glow with the light of day. While the picture from the outside of this facility lined with razor and electrified wire is obviously a prison, what’s going on inside may be more like the outside world than you really know, as cell phones call anywhere and everywhere and the threat to not only the men and women who work here, but the outside world remains very real.

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We enter the facility with a group of officers and along with Warden George A. Neotti. All of us, warden included, go through numerous gates, have our ID’s checked and are monitored in more ways than we see. Producer Chris Spinder and I are allowed to use our cell phones in order to stay in contact with producers and shows in New York, but even that detail had to come with special permission and we had to show the phones before entering and leaving. It is very clear, every precaution is taken and no one fathoms the idea of ever letting their guard down inside these walls.

We are here to report on the significant problem of cell phones inside prison’s nationwide. While technology does exist to easily shut down cell phone service by basically scrambling the signals, that tech is not currently allowed under California law, which means smuggling cell phones into prison’s remains a huge problem. Take into account the fact that in California 3 years ago 1,400 cell phones were found, two years ago that number doubled to 2,800, then last year 7,000 were confiscated. So far this year, 7,000 is in the rearview mirror as phones are being located every day, hidden in every spot imaginable.

We enter cell block three and joining us is officer Fredrick and his companion Scout, a Belgian Shepherd that is raring to go. The duo are part of a new program here in the Golden State that trains dogs to sniff out phones, thus cracking down on the illegal activity. Amazingly the dogs can sniff out any phone in anything, due to a common chemical compound found in every cell unit. Within the first hour with Scout and his handler, three phones are grabbed along with tobacco and illicit drugs.

It takes one month to train a dog like Scout and so far there are about 16 dogs used in California prison’s. Budget issues keep that number from expanding significantly, but when they do get a new dog into service, the use is endless, as is this problem. In the absence of any change from lawmakers allowing technology to shut down cell signals in prisons, these dogs and their team of officers are the call to stop a growing and dangerous prison problem.

Other states with the same issue of a lack of law to scramble signals are now coming to California to see the dogs and their handlers first hand and there is a strong possibility you’ll start seeing these same time of teams used behind bars nationwide. Here at Donovan, Scout and another dog have been here just more than a month and 52 phones have been found. The work can’t be long, so the teams get about 45 minutes before taking a break the rest of the day. The phones found while we are here include one inside a shoe, another in a package of ramen noodles and a third an inmate was trying to flush down the toilet when the team arrived.

During our live report today, Scout and Officer Frederick found tobacco within seconds and the dog is rewarded with a stuffed bone-shaped toy which he equates with a successful find. The detail and work done by these crews each and every day is more than impressive, while the problem of cells in cells can be more than dangerous.