[Cabrera:] Drones are dropping drugs nice alcohol and other contraband to prison inmates. CNN's Deborah Feyerick explains how prison officials are now training to crack down on this new aerial smuggling threat.
[Deborah Feyerick, Cnn National Correspondent:] At prisons throughout South Carolina, trees are being cut down and cleared. More guard towers are being built. And patrols have been added to bolster security beyond the razor wire fence. It's all because of these. Drones, a high-tech threat to prison security, delivering drugs and other contraband to prisons across America. Prison officials say an inmate will coordinate with somebody on the outside, setting the date, the time, and the location of the drop. The inmate will then do counter surveillance, warning the drone operator if an officer is coming, and the drop has to be made someplace else. The ability to access contraband, how much more power does that give to the inmates?
[Bryan Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department Of Corrections:] It gives a lot of power. I mean, they're making a lot of money behind bars in dealing with contraband and the scams that they can run on the contraband cell phones.
[Feyerick:] Bryan Stirling is the director of South Carolina's 22 prisons and detention centers. He says this is about five months' worth of drugs, tobacco, cell phones, chargers, and other contraband smuggled in the old-fashioned way, hidden in things like books or body cavities. Now, add drones.
[Stirling:] So I talked to a sheriff and he said, you know, it was like Washington National. They were just around Christmas. The drones were coming in, dropping and going, dropping and going. And they had numbers on them. And the numbers were corresponding to inmates, and that's how they were getting in.
[Feyerick:] The problem has become so significant, lawmakers in the South Carolina senate recently passed a bill, making it a misdemeanor to fly drones within 500 feet of prison walls or 250 feet above the prison itself. The penalty is a $500 fine and 30 days in prison. Other states like Arizona, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Tennessee have or are considering similar legislation. The problem is not just in the U.S. but Europe as well. In London, an inmate here signaling his precise location to a drone operator. The British media also reporting drones may have been used to smuggle in wire cutting tools used in a prison escape. Stirling says South Carolina is spending millions to secure its prison perimeters, making it harder for people smuggling contraband to hide. Several drone operators have been prosecuted and are now serving time.
[Stirling:] We looked at shooting them down, but, I mean, there's a lot of innate dangers there, too. So, I mean, we feel like our hands are tied.
[Feyerick:] The drone assault is not likely to let up. Drone sales expected to surge from 2.5 million in 2016 to 7 million by 2020. Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Columbia, South Carolina.
[Cabrera:] Coming up, we take you back to Paris, France, where celebrations after today's presidential election will go late into the night. CNN's Christiane Amanpour will join us live. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Back in a moment.