Jose Ariel Rivera is currently serving 10 years at Evans Corrections Institution in Bennettsville, South Carolina, but has somehow been appearing in several Facebook Live streams.
Prison officials are trying to figure out how he keeps getting access to cell phones.
via NYDN:
In one video, the 31-year-old prisoner flashes the middle finger as another inmate waves a sharp knife.
“Yo, we live,” Rivera says. “We gotta show y’all around.”
He’s then seen walking up and down the halls inside the prison.
Rivera, who is serving time for a 2014 burglary conviction, also rants about his “baby momma.”
“Baby momma is tripping,” he says. “But she watching, though. And she loving me, though. … They love me in here. You hear me? Big knives and all.”
Rivera then holds up a knife for the camera.
In a second Facebook Live video, Rivera allegedly threatens a man who’s been communicating with his child’s mother, WIS-TV reports.
According to KHOU, Rivera has been extremely active on social media lately. In addition to going live, the prisoner posted a new Facebook profile picture and shared updates on his timeline. The outlet reports that his last Facebook post was Thursday morning.
“We’ve been very vocal about cell phone contraband, not only in our prisons, but in corrections departments across the country,” a prison spokesperson told KHOU. “This video is another example of the unfettered access to the outside world that cell phones give inmates, which is why the (Federal Communications Commission) should allow prisons to block cell phone (signals).”
Within the last five months Rivera has gotten into trouble several times for having unauthorized access to a cell phone and for social media violations. As punishment, he lost his television, canteen and visitation privileges, WIS-TV reports.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections launched an investigation to find out how Rivera continues to gain access to cell phones. The department is also looking into how the knife was smuggled into the prison.
This sounds like some ‘Orange Is the New Black’ drama.
