COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Federal officials this week oversaw the examination at a South Carolina jail of a cellphone sign jamming technique that some desire will assist warfare the peril posed by inmates with smuggled cellphones, officials told The Associated Press.
The examination took location above the degree of five days at a housing unit at broad brook Correctional Institution, a maximum-security jail at Columbia, South Carolina, according to maintain of honesty officials. Assistant attorney mutual Beth Williams told AP it's the first time federal officials scan collaborated with officials at a status jail during such a test.
Officials did no free the results of the test, which will exist included at a afterward illustrate to exist done by the National Telecommunications and information Administration.
The examination marks further above the state-level quest to stamp out contraband cellphone use, which officials scan expect said represents the peak security peril within their institutions. Micro-jamming technique was tested final year at a federal jail - where officials said they were able to finish down phone signals inside a jail cell, noiseless devices nearly 20 feet (6 meters) away worked normally - however a decades-old constitution says status or local agencies don't scan the authority to squeeze the public airwaves.
South Carolina Corrections Director Bryan Stirling, who during years has spoken out above the dangers posed by the devices smuggled into institutions by the thousands, told AP he was recently deputized during a specific deputy U.S. Marshal, accordingly giving him the federal status needed to accompany the jamming test.
"I'm identical encouraged by what we witnessed at broad brook this week," Stirling told AP above Friday, adding that he's optimistic nearly federal legislation, introduced final month, that used to award status jail officials the souvenir to squeeze signals.
In 2008, South Carolina officials received a waiver from the Federal Communications committee to accompany a jamming examination at a different maximum-security prison, at a parade during media and other officials however no at a jail dorm.
Stirling and other status jail directors utilize other measures - alike perimeter netting, monitoring by drone, and scanners - to detect cellphones however attorney a jamming technique that used to finish down entire signals during the best feasible defense.
In 2017, Stirling testified at a FCC hearing at Washington alongside Robert Johnson, a prior South Carolina corrections officer almost killed at 2010 at a thrash orchestrated by an inmate using an illegal phone.
Also that year, an inmate escaped from a maximum-security jail at South Carolina, thanks at segregate to a smuggled cellphone. at 2018, seven inmates at a maximum-security South Carolina jail were killed at what officials scan said was a masses campaign above sphere and contraband including cellphones.
The FCC has shown willingness to work above the issue, holding a domain hearing at South Carolina and hosting meetings with members of Congress, prisons officials and stakeholders from the wireless industry.
On Friday, Williams said officials are working to pledge prisons scan technological options to assist them warfare the smuggled devices.
"It is identical difficult to create sure that no contraband gets in," Williams told AP. "We attempt during difficult during we can, however it's indeed difficult to break everything."
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Meg Kinnard can exist reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
