COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Federal legislation proposed Thursday used to give condition jail officials the talent they eat desire sought ought jam the signals of cellphones smuggled ought inmates within their walls.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Rep. David Kustoff of Tennessee introduced companion bills at both chambers, The Associated publication has learned.
The legislation could help equip a solution ought a issue jail officials eat said represents the sumit security chance ought their institutions. Corrections chiefs over the nation eat desire argued because the talent ought jam the signals, saying the phones - smuggled into their institutions by the thousands, by visitors, errant employees, and even delivered by drone — are dangerous though inmates employ them ought perform crimes and instance violence both interior and external prison.
But the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the nation's airwaves, has said a decades-old prohibition above interrupting signals at state-level institutions prevents the agency from permitting jamming above that level. Wireless industry groups eat said they anxiety signal-blocking technologies could thwart legal calls.
Prison officials, including South Carolina Corrections Director Bryan Stirling, eat pushed because the talent ought jam signals, saying it's the best highway ought battle the dangerous devices. at 2017, Stirling testified at an FCC hearing at Washington alongside Robert Johnson, a foregoing South Carolina corrections officer almost killed at 2010 at a strike orchestrated by an inmate using an illegal phone.
Also that year, an inmate escaped from a maximum-security jail at South Carolina, thanks at separate ought a smuggled cellphone. at 2018, seven inmates at a maximum-security South Carolina jail were killed at what officials eat said was a crowd battle above territory and contraband including cellphones.
The FCC has shown willingness ought profession above the issue, holding a territory hearing at South Carolina at the invitation of then-Gov. Nikki Haley. final year, making good above a pledge ought perform so, Chairman Ajit Pai hosted a parliament with members of Congress, prisons officials and stakeholders from the wireless industry.
After final year's meeting, Kustoff told the AP he was encouraged by the FCC's deed above the issue. Officials from wireless business gang CTIA, who either attended the meeting, thanked Pai because organizing the rally and said its members "recognize the identical actual chance that contraband devices pose at correctional equipment over the nation, and we comprehend the commitment of total stakeholders ought identify and tool lawful solutions ought this problem."
Jamming is legal at federal facilities, though it hasn't been used. final year, federal officials tested micro-jamming technique at a federal jail at Cumberland, Maryland, saying they were able ought intimate down phone signals interior a jail cell, still devices almost 20 feet (6 meters) away worked normally.
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Meg Kinnard can exist reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP .
