Under the amended Communications Act of 1934, jamming wireless transmissions is illegal, except under rare circumstances. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversees jamming and is only allowed to grant waivers to federal organizations, not state or local institutions.
Some Congressmen want to amend the Act's prohibition. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R - Texas) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D - Md.) are sponsoring "The Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009" (S.251) "to permit targeted interference with mobile radio services within prison facilities." In other words: jamming.
A similar bill is before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. In addition, on Monday, July 13, prison officials from more than two dozen states filed a petition with the FCC asking the agency to allow jamming.
Government officials and prison wardens make a convincing case. For example, John Whitmire, a senator in the Texas State Senate and chairman of its Committee on Criminal Justice, testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. He discussed being called by Richard Tabler, a Texas prison inmate on death row, saying it "scared the hell out of me."
Calling from his prison cell, Tabler told Whitmire he knew details about the Senator's daughters, and he proceeded to say their names, ages, and addresses. When prison officials eventually discovered the phone, they found at least nine prisoners had made 2,800 calls and text messages during the previous month.
Prisoners around the world are using cellphone capabilities -- voice calls, SMS, email, and browsers -- to intimidate and even murder witnesses, plan drug deals, organize escapes, and coordinate riots. CellAntenna, which manufactures jamming equipment, has been lobbying hard for its use in prisons.
However, technological prohibitions are rarely black-or-white issues.
Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C., consumer rights organization emphasizing technology issues, has been leading a charge against the proposed legislation. The group says if phone signals are blocked for prisoners, they also could be unjustifiably blocked for all prison employees. Public safety employees who work near the prison could potentially experience problems with jamming.
Public Knowledge doubts CellAntenna's claims, and says the company hasn't provided sufficient engineering information to prove its jammers work as accurately as it advertises.
Many prison experts note that jamming doesn't get to the heart of the problem, which is stopping phones from entering the prison. Inmates have used all sorts of methods, everything from getting phones thrown over prison walls to attaching phone components to pigeons.
Pigeons aside, the most common method for obtaining cellphones is the old fashioned way: bribing guards and other employees.
One way to keep cellphones from prisoners is to ensure all prisons institute stringent inspections for all workers and visitors. Another method is to employ radio signal detectors to search for cellular phones, such as Cell Hound by ITT Corp.
In addition, dogs trained to sniff out cellular phones, which have a faint but distinct odor, are being used in prisons in the U.S. and the U.K.
I hate the idea of opening the floodgates for a new industry dedicated to selling jamming equipment in the U.S., even though it's possible now to purchase illegal jammers. I want Congress to hold off on any legislation until the FCC and/or other government agencies mandate and oversee detailed engineering tests.
If tests prove the hardware effectively jams signals in targeted locations without interfering with other phones or equipment, then I'd like to see several pilot projects in prisons, including testing to see if prisoners can thwart the jamming.
Only after the successful completion of the tests should Congress even consider passing this legislation.
