Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently joined a group of attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress to pass legislation that would give states the authority to jam contraband cell phones in prisons.
In a letter to Congress, General Skrmetti joined state attorneys general in urging Congress to pass legislation allowing state prisons to jam the signals of cellphones smuggled to inmates, allowing them to continue criminal activity. Read the letter here: https://t.co/7C7jzOOkDx pic.twitter.com/yNreRctyA6
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) January 25, 2023
The letter is led by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
“Inmates using contraband cell phones to continue their criminal activity behind bars is not a South Carolina specific problem – it’s a nationwide issue,” Wilson stated.
The letter details instances of inmates using contraband cell phones to commit additional crimes while in prison. One instance highlighted a case in Tennessee, where a Memphis inmate used a contraband cell phone to orchestrate drug conspiracy deals by sending a FedEx package full of methamphetamine to his girlfriend.
“Simply, we need Congress to pass legislation giving states the authority to implement a cell phone jamming system to protect inmates, guards, and the public at large,” the group of attorneys general stated in the letter.
The letter is a response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) failed effort to act after the agency was called upon to give states the ability to jam contraband cell phones, according to Wilson’s press release.
Instead of giving states the power to jam contraband cell phones, the FCC announced in 2021 it would be giving states the technology to “pinpoint contraband cell phones and send the information to the cell phone carrier to be shut off within five days of notice.”
Despite this, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office notes that the state’s Department of Corrections was the first to apply and be approved to use this technology in 2022 but is still waiting to move to the next step of approval.
Meanwhile, the FCC stated that it has “made it a top priority to put an end to illegal cell phone use by inmates in prisons,” however, the FCC said it believes that cell phone jamming technology is “not the solution.”
According to the agency, cell phone jamming technology is “illegal and causes more problems than it solves.”
“A prison cell is no place for access to a cell phone. Inmates across the country, and here in South Carolina, are using contraband cell phones to facilitate drug trafficking, commit extortion, and even organize murders. We’re doing our part on the ground, but Congress needs to give states the power to jam these cell phones. Enough is enough,” Wilson added.
In 2021, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a law that would make inmates in possession of a cell phone, or any telecommunications device while inside a penal institution, subject to a Class E Felony charge.
In another move to better identify smuggled contraband into prisons, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) recently announced that all people who enter a TDOC prison must be screened by a full body scanner. The scanners – which are meant to act as deterrents for individuals considering bringing contraband into a facility – are specifically designed to detect metallic and nonmetallic threat items, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
Between July 2020 and March 2021, TDOC’s Office of Investigations and Conduct (OIC) reported that it had confiscated over 2,500 cell phones from TDOC facilities.
Twenty other state attorneys general besides the South Carolina and Tennesse attorneys general signed the letter: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Jonathan Skrmetti” by Tennessee Courts. Background Photo “Prisoners” by RODNAE Productions.
