Contraband cell phones give inmates capability to continue committing crimes

Not too long ago, someone sent an alarming Facebook post to an Oklahoma state correctional facility asking how they could contact the prison directly because a sex-offender inmate was using a cell phone from inside the prison to talk to children on social media.

Let me repeat that: a sex-offender inmate with a cell phone in an Oklahoma prison was contacting children on social media. Cell phones in Oklahoma prisons have been used recently to stalk victims, coordinate drug operations outside the prison and threaten family members.

That is completely unacceptable.

In September 2019, gang members using contraband cell phones inside Oklahoma prison facilities were able to coordinate fights in six different state prisons.

Since inmates can’t have cell phones while incarcerated, the cell phones get a new name: contraband. Some of the newest compact phones can be purchased on Amazon for less than $100, and they are only a couple of inches tall and wide. Prison law enforcement also face real threats from the smuggled contraband cell phones in their facilities, but there are ways we can help support our law enforcement and protect children and victims.

Since it’s hard to stop the actual contraband phones from entering prisons, I have pushed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow local prison officials to install cell phone “jamming” technology to completely block the contraband cell phone signals.

Federal prisons can use cell-phone jamming, but the FCC will not allow state or county jails or prisons to use that same technology.

Long term, we need a simple change in federal law that will allow state and federal facilities to use jamming technology to prevent the use of contraband cellphones in prisons. I have worked on this issue for years to protect families and victims from illegal cell phone use in a prison.

After years of work and conversations with law enforcement, the FCC, the Department of Justice and Oklahoma prison leadership, we finally have a bill to allow states to jam illegal cell phones in their prisons to prevent prisoners from contacting their victims or coordinating even more crime while they are incarcerated. My Cell Phone Jamming Reform Act would prevent contraband cell phone use in all federal and state prison facilities by allowing state and federal prisons to use cell phone jamming systems.

Jamming the signal locally gives local, state and federal prisons the ability and authority to implement a system to protect inmates, guards and the general public.

Let’s get this done to protect victims. Our families and communities should be safely protected from those behind bars.

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