Contraband being smuggled into jails and prisons is nothing new, but getting caught with a cell phone in Florida will now come with some serious consequences.

Prison inmates will be facing felony charges if they are caught with cell phones, Blackberry's or PDA's.

Cell phones - ever smaller and thinner - are finding their way into jails and prisons in alarming numbers.

They come in with visitors or trustees and can spell big trouble inside.

"We've had inmates for example using cell phones to harass victims," said Department of Corrections Spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. "We've also had inmates using cell phones to try to plot escape attempts or to conduct criminal enterprises outside the prison facility and in our neighborhoods."

Until now, an inmate caught with a cell phone was disciplined in prison, but now, he or she will be charged with a second or third degree felony.

Some folks waiting to visit inmates at the Leon County jail say that sounds too severe, but others were hardly sympathetic.

"I mean, they know they're incarcerated. They know they're not supposed to have cell phones so, I mean, I say, whoopee," said Brittany Jones as she gave the new law a thumbs up.

"I don't know if being charged with a crime, but I don't think they should have cell phones. I mean, I think ... you're in jail, you're in jail for a reason and you have access to a phone," Karen Goodson said as she waited to visit a friend.

The Department of Corrections says the number of phones making their way behind bars is exploding from 3 in January of 2007 to 62 in December of that year. The DOC says it has confiscated more than 300 cell phones in the past year and a half.

Right now, the law applies only at state prisons, not county jails.