By Kayode Crown
al.com
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission will vote in November to grant states and local correctional facilities the ability to jam contraband cellphones in prisons and jails, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Wednesday.
“Today, I announced the FCC will vote to authorize prisons to jam contraband cellphones for the first time ever,” Carr wrote in a social media post.
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“Almost 500,000 inmates now have access to them and 25,000 phones are seized in jails annually. Inmates are using them at exceptionally high rates to order hits, run drug operations, enable CSAM (child sexual abuse material) abuse of young kids, and many more awful acts. We are now giving state and local prisons & jails a tool they’ve been denied for years.”
The commission is composed of two Republicans and one Democrat.
If the measure passes, it would not mandate phone jamming but would give authorities that option.
An FCC news release says the plan includes the requirement for testing to prove that the effect of the technology will be limited to the designated geographic areas.
“Jamming may occur only within a Commission-authorized ‘jamming containment area’ where wireless device operation is prohibited, and it must not cause harmful interference outside that area,” the release said.
The vote will take place on Nov. 19.
What’s the biggest obstacle to stopping contraband cellphones right now?
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