Any time something is banned or outlawed, there will be a black market for that item. People are always willing to pay a premium for the things they want that they cannot easily get, and there will always be those willing to take the risk of delivering those items in return for a lucrative payout. Perhaps this is nowhere more true than in the American penal system.

Contraband is--and always has been--a part of prisons, and a part of prison economy, and while drugs and weapons are obviously among banned items, they are not the only contraband in demand in Oklahoma jails and prisons. Cigarettes and tobacco and cell phones and chargers are also in high demand, and there is no shortage of people willing to deliver these items--whether to repay a debt, to help an incarcerated friend or family member, or even just make some quick cash.

Last month, we wrote about a McClain County Jail health care worker who was arrested and charged with bringing contraband into a penal institution after jail employees found a cell phone among the inmates and traced it back to the health care worker. They say she "readily admitted" to bringing cell phones and controlled substances to jail inmates.

Getting corrections employees to deliver contraband is certainly one way to bring banned items into a jail or prison, but it is by no means the only way. Last fall, a drone carrying cell phones, drugs, and hacksaw blades crashed into a security fence at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. A former inmate was convicted in connection with the case.

Other cases of prison contraband delivery involve more basic methods--including simply throwing the items over a fence onto prison grounds.

According to a report by the Oklahoman, some 20,000 contraband cell phones were found in Oklahoma correctional facilities between 2010 and 2015--of that total, 7,705 were discovered last year, showing that the number of illegal smartphones in jails and prisons are skyrocketing.

In general, a first offense of bringing weapons, drugs, alcohol, money, or financial documents belonging to someone other than the inmate or his or her spouse into a penal institution (57 O.S. § 21) is a felony punishable by one to 5 years in prison. If an inmate is found to be in possession of any of these contraband items, he or she faces a sentence of 5 to 20 years. A second or subsequent offense of possession of contraband in a penal institution is punishable by a minimum of 20 years.

However, a person can get a lesser sentence for certain types of contraband. For example, bringing cigarettes or tobacco products into a jail or prison is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail. Bringing a cell phone or other device capable of sending or receiving electronic communication into a penal institution is a felony punishable by a maximum of two years in prison.