Officials push to allow prisons to jam cellphone signal

Prisoners who smuggle cellphones behind bars can run scams, order weapons and order hits on witnesses and law enforcement.

"The inmates decided that they needed to kill me," former prison guard Capt. Robert Johnson said.

He was an officer at Lee Correctional in Bishopville, South Carolina.

"An inmate (who was) locked up used a cellphone to call a hit to one of his buddies on the outside," Johnson said.

The inmate paid $6,000 to a hitman who kicked in a door at 5:30 a.m. March 5, 2010, and shot Johnson six times.

Prisoners aren't supposed to have cellphones, but they find ways to smuggle them behind bars.

In an Action 9 investigation last month, Jason Stoogenke reported on how smugglers use drones to deliver them.

South Carolina is spending millions to put up nets so smugglers can't throw phones over the walls.

South Carolina's prison director, Bryan Stirling, said it's like water: It's going to find a way in.

Prison officials across the country want more power to jam cell signals, so even if prisoners have phones, they can't use them.

"(There's) no earthly reason for a locked-up inmate to have a cellphone. None," Johnson said. "It's life and death."

An old federal law says only federal agencies can block airwaves, not individual states.

Johnson and Stirling were in Washington Thursday to urge the Federal Communications Commission to make exceptions.

"It should scare everybody," Stirling said. "They can continue their criminal ways from behind bars and have unfettered access to the outside world, which should concern everybody."

The FCC adopted new rules that move closer to allowing prisons to block cell signals.
One of the three commissioners is against jamming technology.

"It is just not an appropriate solution in this case," Commissioner Michael O'Rielly said.

He said he fears that it's a slippery slope that could lead to abuse of power.

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