States Ask FCC to Allow Prison Cell Phone Jamming

According to an AP report, a Southern prison official says correctional leaders from more than two dozen states have signed a petition asking permission to jam cell phone signals inside state penitentiaries and thwart inmates' forbidden phone calls.

South Carolina Corrections Director Jon Ozmint said his petition was filed Monday with the Federal Communications Commission. He said it bears signatures from corrections directors in 25 states and three cities.

Ozmint says contraband cell phones allow inmates to communicate and plan other crimes. Inmates in several states have been accused of doing just that.

In another move, Texas and Maryland officials are urging Congress to approve legislation allowing states to jam illegal cell phones used by prisoners.

In Texas, prison officials say they have joined other U.S. states in demanding the authority to jam inmates' cell phone calls.

The move came after guards found 775 prohibited cell phones in Texas prisons so far this year, The Houston Chronicle reported. Texas prison system inspector general John Moriarty says he's joining officials from 27 other states in backing a congressional proposal to allow prisons to use technology that jams the airwaves.

Maryland's top corrections official plans to testify on Wednesday before a Senate committee in support of federal legislation that would make signal-jamming technology legal for use in the country's prisons, where contraband cell phones have become a deadly - and growing - problem.

But critics say jamming devices could interfere with service to law-abiding citizens and with emergency response. Under current law, however, the FCC can only allow federal agencies — not state or local authorities — permission to jam cell phone signals. Federal law currently doesn't allow states to use jamming equipment, reported AP.

(July 15, 2009)

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