The next time you get popped for a crime you didn't commit and end up in the Big House, you're going to be real glad NCIC Inmate Telephone Services rolled into existence. The greatest dream of felons everywhere has finally come to fruition: you can now make collect calls to cellphones while you're serving your time. And hey, this isn't just some minor advance -- no, this is "lightning in a bottle," arguably on par with the first moon landing, finding a cure for cancer, or hitting that crazy high note at the end of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun." With a 20 percent call-completion rate, you don't have to defer your dreams -- rob a bank today, you'll definitely be able to make pricey collect calls to loved ones from jail!
[Image courtesy
Celebrity Blackberry Sightings]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Le Master @ May 8th 2008 9:59AM
Lawl. You're effing ridiculous.
clak @ May 8th 2008 10:02AM
Engadget, take note, I come to your site to get away from Paris Hilton. If you continue down this route, I might as well go to CNN for my morning news.
300: edited with Final Cut Pro
nathan.wong @ May 8th 2008 10:02AM
I love that picture of Lindsay.
Flashpoint @ May 8th 2008 10:03AM
NOW your boyfriend who is in jail for whuppin your ass can control you from the convenient privacy of his cell.
"Why you ain' t pick up the phone?
When I get out of here, I'ma WHUP THAT TRICK"
slarity @ May 8th 2008 10:06AM
Haha, thats hillarious
Hopefully this is more popular than your GTA4 rant =/
peekinde @ May 8th 2008 10:29AM
slarity:
r u his bf
Will Reed @ May 8th 2008 10:16AM
Lindsay is showing some nip, might not be work safe :P
OneLove @ May 8th 2008 10:22AM
dream on.
Dean @ May 8th 2008 11:06AM
thats what i thought when i glanced at it too, lol
Rynth @ May 8th 2008 11:13AM
Hush you!
Nipples ftw!
initialxy @ May 8th 2008 10:26AM
Blackberry 8700? screw calls, just email with blackberry.
Byran Newell @ May 8th 2008 10:34AM
Ah- I love it when press releases aren't thoroughly proofread. They really coulda used one less "s" in the website they referred people to test their product. If they wanted people to go to their actual site, that is.
Aron T @ May 8th 2008 10:41AM
Mock all you want, but this would have been handy for a uh "friend" when they managed to trespass on the roof of the local mall.... Not mentioning any names in order to, you know, protect the guilt-- er innocent! yeah, that...
Aron T @ May 8th 2008 10:42AM
Take your blogspam elsewhere you tool - there is enough crap in the intertubes without your scum...
Oinquer @ May 8th 2008 10:48AM
boobs?
Anthony @ May 8th 2008 11:56AM
It would seem so.
mrarmageddon @ May 8th 2008 10:52AM
With a Blackberry 8700, get ready for very low quality calls from prison.
Brian @ May 8th 2008 10:55AM
That Hilton slag is amazingly unattractive. Reptilian, almost.
webon @ May 8th 2008 11:06AM
that Wazzzzzuuuuuup ad would be hilarious
geoffgallo @ May 8th 2008 11:10AM
Am I supposed to be pleased that yet another american journal forces the endless subjugation and sexual objectification of women , ad nauseum, upon us, driving us further into the new dark age?
The notion that cellphones are more important than medical breakthroughs is ludicrous, the notion that men would get 'popped' for crimes or jail is somehow ''normal'', and the implication that cleavage pushing females are the ones who would be 'changing their numbers' implies a slew of notions that people innately suck. The only thing proved here is Engagdet is a purveyor of the most ignorant stupidty that has possessed america. While you, Engadet, are fast asleep, much of the country is waking up to a new society. Thanks for forever burning Engadget into my memory as perhaps the most ignorant dickwads with keyboards.
waffles @ May 8th 2008 11:22AM
whats the view like from a horse that high?
anonymouspimp @ May 8th 2008 11:32AM
This HAS to be sarcasm, right?
alexmueller @ May 8th 2008 11:44AM
I believe Joshua was using sarcasm
vlu77 @ May 8th 2008 12:41PM
At 2.2 million incarcerated, prison is pretty normal.
Jagannath A @ May 8th 2008 1:58PM
,,|,, d~_~b ,,|,,
crho85 @ May 8th 2008 2:02PM
Tell me geoff, is it lonely up there on your pedestal?
NobleArc, The Lazy Canadian @ May 8th 2008 11:53AM
I love the comment about "Happiness Is a Warm Gun." So clever. It made me laugh. :D
vlu77 @ May 8th 2008 12:04PM
Actually, they've had this ability for years through other services, my friend is halfway through a 9 year sentence and he's been calling my cell for 2 years now.
Jon @ May 8th 2008 12:12PM
this sucks! I have changed my VOIP Number 4 times because I kept getting collect calls from complete strangers begging me to "call their woman" to get to the "big House" and bail them out.
It is bad enough that I get the call, but it really got to me that I would get them at 7am on Sunday Mornings. I work 5 days a week and go to school all days on Saturdays. The lasting thing I want on Sunday Morning is some outraged prisoner telling me what I should do for them.
AJ in the East Bay @ May 8th 2008 12:39PM
Dude, where do you live that this happens to you after you change your number four times?
cDub @ May 8th 2008 12:43PM
I have never laughed more at a post on Engadget before. Good job Joshua.
fenix @ May 8th 2008 12:46PM
funny pop culture picture references accompanying articles of somewhat entirely different content?
what is this place...gizmodo?
IndiaTech @ May 8th 2008 1:31PM
What's next? Cell to Cell minutes?
waffles @ May 8th 2008 2:01PM
well played sir....
dosguy @ May 8th 2008 2:03PM
Call me old fashioned, but why the hell do we need phones in prisons anyway? Isn't it supposed to be, uh...PRISON???
Brent @ May 8th 2008 2:52PM
I'll own up: I wish this had been around before and I hadn't had to call my mom to bail me out. What are you gonna do when all your friends just have cell phones?
"Hi Mom, couple things, first, I do drugs, second, I need you to bring $300 cash down to the jail. No Ma, they don't take credit cards. Yes I know that's dumb."
Enki @ May 9th 2008 2:17AM
In the Federal Bureau of Prisons, you have had the ability to make prepaid calls to cell phones for years. Recently, they enabled a system (it's called ITS, but it's a different one then what's talked about in the article) that allows you to call cell phones collect, but it requires them to setup an account with a credit card, as opposed to billing your phone company directly.
Matt @ May 27th 2008 10:09PM
What does the mob think of this?