FCC OKS TECH TO SLOW CELLPHONES IN PRISON
Move will help jailers find and deactivate contraband devices
Federal regulators are giving state prisons across the country more technological options to combat contraband cellphones, which prison officials have long said represent the greatest security threat behind bars.
The Federal Communications Commission had been set to discuss “taking steps to combat contraband wireless devices in correctional facilities” during a meeting Tuesday, but officials said at the beginning of the discussion that they had already adopted a ruling on the issue and wouldn’t be going over it.
In a comment posted online, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the commission’s action “sets up a streamlined system for corrections department officials to use certified contraband interdiction systems to identify where contraband phones may be in use and request that wireless carriers have them deactivated.”
The ruling responds to “last year’s appropriations legislation directing us to adopt rules to require wireless carriers to disable contraband devices upon proper identification,” she wrote.
The move stops short of addressing out-and-out cell signal jamming, something prisons officials say would help them render contraband phones useless to inmates, who use the devices for unfettered, unmonitored communication.
But Rosenworcel said the commission is open to taking further action, noting that the FCC will seek comment on further rule updates and “the potential for other systems to help us combat the proliferation of contraband phones,” to the extent federal law allows.
South Carolina Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has been at the forefront of an effort by corrections directors across the country to call for the ability to use more technology to crack down on contraband cellphones, thousands of which are confiscated in prisons every year, smuggled inside hollowed-out footballs, whisked in by corrupt employees and sometimes even dropped by drone.
He and other state prisons directors have advocated for the ability to jam the signals entirely, therefore rendering the illicit phones useless, but that’s not allowed under current federal law. Last week, Stirling told The Associated Press he was encouraged by the commission’s willingness to discuss the dangers of the devices, which are smuggled into institutions by the thousands.