Sometimes it seems like cell phones are more prevalent in America than SUV-clogged traffic and low-carb advertising. You can hear people talking about every gruesome, private detail of that last doctor's visit while you're in the grocery store, walking down the street or even in the bathroom.

And now, you can hear about it in your local prison or jail.

Today, when America's prisoners want to reach out and touch someone, they usually are limited in time and cost to the correctional system's monitored phone docks. But increasingly, prisoners are finding cell phones a convenient way to bypass the monitored phone systems for their "Can you hear me now?"

"I think that the one difference with cell phones (rather than other contraband) is the ability to connect unwatched and unmonitored with the outside," said Stephen Ingley, executive director of the American Jail Association, the representative group for jail employees. "The smaller they get, and the more technologically advanced they get, the more complicated they get."

While no one is characterizing the rise in cell-phone contraband as a problem of epidemic proportions, employees of America's prisons and jails are finding more hidden cell phones than ever before. And as the technology gets smaller, lighter and more undetectable, most corrections officials are bracing to find the little ringers throughout their facilities.

Read more at SNITCH