Blocking Cell Phone Signals

In Honduras several towns have the government prisons right in the center of town. Here in La Ceiba we have two prisons, one is about 20 kilometers from town and is in a remote area, the other one is in the area where the water front was located a few years back. This is an older prison and was OK back in the day but frankly it is not such a good idea to have it located here these days.

In the picture above the prison is the blue building in the background. In the photograph you can also see two antenna like structures. Now a few years back, and being the violence that is so common in this country, the security forces decided that most of the crimes being committed, murders, extortion, kidnappings were being planned and directed by gang members being held in prison. So it was decided that the two cell phone providers would have to set up these antennas (I don't really know what they are called) to block or jam any calls being made from a prison. Of course I would think it would be easier to be tough and not let the inmates have cell phones, but what do I know?

I don't know if they worked, the joke around here is that you wouldn't get a cell phone signal for at least three blocks around and if you wanted to call you would have to get as near to the prison as possible because that was the only place that had a signal. Better said you could still use cell phones inside the prison.

There were a lot of complaints from the neighbors who couldn't use their phones and eventually I don't know if the cell phone companies fixed the problem or what happened but now you can receive a 100% signal even if you are under the towers, I don't know if the same holds true for phones inside the prison.