On December 23rd, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, and four other attorney generals co-authored a letter to the Federal Communications Commission supporting the use of jamming technology in prisons to combat the use of contraband cell phones by inmates. The use of cell phones by those who have been incarcerated is considered a safety issue for both correctional center employees and the general public as inmates use the devices to continue to conduct illegal activities from behind bars. These activities include drug trafficking, coordinating drone drops into the prison facilities, intimidating witnesses, and other felonies.
In September, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Senator Tom Cotton, Attorney General Griffin and others took part in a round table discussion with Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr about the threats posed by contraband cell phones in prison. As part of that roundtable, a tour of Varner Prison was conducted confirming the ongoing safety concerns of illegal cell phones used by inmates. Ray King, of DeltaPlex News, reported on this meeting.
At that time, the Arkansas Times suggested this was a “manufactured panic” and stated cell phones are a good response to expensive state-run phone systems. According to that publication, civil rights proponents and the formerly incarcerated claim the cell phones are primarily used to communicate with their families and pass the time.
According to the December 23rd letter, the Arkansas Department of Corrections identified 230 gang leaders were found guilty of possession of contraband cell phones over 538 times. These inmates were members of gangs such as the White Aryan Resistance, Gangster Disciples, the Bloods, and the Crips. The Gangster Disciples had the largest number of incidents. In Macon State Prison in Georgia, inmates used cell phones to overwhelm and shut down the largest 911 center in the state.
It has been suggested cell phone jamming could negatively impact official emergency service calls, but the letter sent to the FCC assures the recipients that prisons have other methods to communicate with emergency services and that those concerns are minimal compared with the threat to public safety from the contraband cell phones.
