SC officials praise FCC effort to jam contraband cell phones in prisons
The Federal Communications Commission will soon vote on a proposal that, if approved, will allow states to jam cell phones illegally used by prison inmates.
The Friday announcement by FCC Chariman Brendar Carr was met with widespread praise nationally and statewide, including South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Department of Corrections Director Joel Anderson.
“Chairman Carr’s support to accomplish targeted jamming in state prisons via rule making is a critical step forward and I am hopeful the full commission will support his efforts to finally get this done,” Wilson said in a news release. “This is a matter of public safety, and if accomplished, South Carolina citizens will be safer because of it.”
The rule proposal would create a partnership between correctional facilities and wireless carriers to implement targeted cellphone jamming without interfering with the wireless devices of residents who live, work, and travel near prisons, according to a news release from the FCC.
“For years, thousands upon thousands of contraband cellphones have been pouring into prisons, and some of the worst possible offenders have been using them to order hits, coordinate violent gang activity, and aid criminal enterprises,” Carr said in the release.
For a decade state leaders and prison officials have tried to combat contraband cellphone use to no avail, the release said. A 2024 study by the Urban Institute, for example, found that prison authorities recovered more than 25,000 cell phones across 20 state prisons in a single year.
“SCDC will do whatever it takes to help make this initiative successful for all states across the country,” Anderson said in the release. “This is a monumental step in public safety. The world just got a whole lot safer.”
The FCC is expected to vote on the proposal on Sept. 30.
