Jamming cell phone signals in prisons has drawbacks, Commerce report says

“The Communications Act of 1934 broadly prohibits jamming devices, including cell phone jammers, and the FCC cannot waive this statutory prohibition,” he said. 

Still, cell phones in prisons are a major concern, he said, citing reports that Charles Manson, a notorious convicted murderer, was caught with an LG flip phone under his mattress in prison. 

“An inmate’s illegal activity may involve discussions with fellow criminals outside the prison walls about drug trafficking, money laundering or intimidating witnesses — or worse, plotting their murders,” Barnett wrote. 

The cell phone problem has increased in prisons in correlation with consumer demand, according to the Commerce report.

California prison officials confiscated 261 cell phones in 2006. They confiscated 2,811 in 2008, the report said.

The report identified technologies that seemed to have fewer drawbacks than jamming devices.  Managed access systems, for instance, would block calls from prisoners but allow emergency and authorized phones to dial out. 

Such technology has been praised by the wireless industry in comparison to jamming devices, which phone companies see as a heavy-handed solution that could interfere with service for other customers. 

Steve Largent, president of the trade group for wireless providers CTIA, said in a blog post this year that compared to jamming, managed accessed is a “scalpel.”

Prisons could also opt to try to track and locate cell phones using detection technologies without attempting to interfere with calls, the Commerce report said.

President Obama signed a law in August banning cell phones in prison and waging penalties on people who sneak them to inmates.