Jamming machines block cell phone signals, but the technology is banned in state prisons thanks to the Federal Communications Act of 1934 which passed long before cell phones were invented.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — One Tennessee congressman believes it’s time to pull the plug on inmates using illegal cell phones to orchestrate hits, run drug rings, and manage criminal enterprises from behind bars.
Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tennessee) plans to present a bill next congressional session to allow cell phone jamming technology in state prisons, according to state Sen. Ed Jackson (R-Jackson).
Jamming machines block cell phone signals, but the technology is banned in state prisons thanks to the Federal Communications Act of 1934 which passed long before cell phones were invented.
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“The technology will protect inmates, it’ll protect guards, and it’ll protect the public at large,” Rep. Kustoff told other members of Congress when he sponsored similar legislation last year. “State Attorneys General from across the country have determined that cell phones from within prisons, these contraband cell phones, are among the most serious threats to public safety facing prison administrators today.”
According to corrections experts, inmates across the country have used contraband cell phones to commit dangerous crimes while in prison. For example, in Tennessee, an inmate used a cell phone to orchestrate drug conspiracy deals by shipping a package of methamphetamine to his girlfriend, Kustoff said.
State Sen. Jackson told lawmakers and Commissioner Frank Strada of the TN Dept. of Correction Wednesday, Rep. Kustoff was trying to gauge the state’s prison leaders’ interest in the bill. Strada said he fully backs the measure.
“Jamming the cell phone would eventually turn it into a brick and useless inside the facility,” Strada said. “I’m sure I speak for a lot of correctional folks, whether they’re state, federal, or local, that the jamming would just be a tremendous support mechanism for our facility.”
State lawmakers have passed laws cracking down on contraband cell phones in jails and prisons over the years, including a 2021 bill by former Sen. Paul Rose (R-Kingston) and former Rep. Brandon Ogles (R-Franklin) that made it a Class E felony for inmates to have a cell phone in corrections facilities.
Rep. Kustoff plans to present the cell phone jamming legislation next Congressional session. He told state lawmakers other Tennessee members of Congress have already signed onto the bill. Rep. Kustoff has sponsored similar legislation over the years, most recently, last year, but the bill didn’t make it past committee.