Chino prison K9s trained to search for cellphones

CHINO, Calif. (KABC) -- California prison officials are turning to specially-trained dogs to track down cellphones hidden by inmates. The California Institute for Men in Chino is one of those prisons.

Tobacco and drugs are easy for the dogs to detect, but it's cellphones they're after.

"You can smell tobacco, you can smell marijuana. We can smell it, and you know what they are actually sniffing for. With a cell phone I really couldn't tell you. They surprise me," said K9 handler Sgt. Nelson.

In 2014 alone, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confiscated more than 10,000 phones from its facilities.

To combat the growing problem, CDCR is using specially trained cellphone detection K9s.

"He barked on the mattress so we're able to find the cell phone and tobacco in between the mattresses," said CDCR Officer Colon.

Inmates have used cellphones to run their criminal operations on the outside.

"These are prison engineers and they would engineer packages like this to keep it concealed," said prison Lt. Banuelos.

Prisoners have even turned CD players into cellphones using cellular data chips.

"It is a never ending battle we have to keep updating our intelligence on this stuff in order to get these guys," said Banuelos.

In less than two hours, K9 Scrappy and his handler will sweep 200 cells uncovering illegal items.

The contraband confiscated from inside the cells represent currency the inmates could have used to continue their illegal activity outside prison walls.

"This is the currency to get them so much tobacco and then the tobacco will be used to pay for maybe 15 minutes of cellphone time," said K9 handler Officer Diaz.

K9s are helping to put a dent in those activities. In this case, the inmate caught with the cellphone will likely lose credit for time served.