Yahoo!/AP reports that the Federal Communications Act prohibits the State of South Carolina from installing communications jamming equipment inside jails and prisons to prevent inmates from using cell phones to commit further crimes.
How many bars can they get inside of prison? I would imagine that cell phone reception inside an imposing concrete structure should be pretty dismal. And, instead of paying for some electronic wizardry to jam signals, the prison can install aluminum siding or other materials to further physically disrupt the cell phones inside the prison. Maybe the state officials need to think outside the box.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Perhaps a better approach would be to legislate a ban on the use of mobile phone inside federal jails and prisons.
Well, cellphone and other gadgets should be banned altogether. Prisoners and inmates can often be creative. They can make a lot in the smallest of thing you give them.
Mobile phones and the likes are already banned from prison. That is why prison authorities continue to find ways to eradicate this contraband. What the Federal Communications Act prohibits is the installation of signal jamming devices inside prison walls, not the banning of mobile phones.
The news article referred above said: In some places, inmates found with cell phones can have years tacked onto their sentences or have credit for good behavior taken away. And in several states, it’s illegal for prison officials and visitors to give phones to inmates.