According to South Carolina's Brian Sterling, the tests were conducted at the Broad River Correctional Facility in Columbia, South Carolina, for maximum safety over several days.If successful, the bill would replace previous FCC limits that made congestion illegal.The law, known as the Cellular Interference Reform Act, was introduced seven months ago.Director Sterling said the test is a research project that supports federal law.However, testing must demonstrate that the portable jammer does not interfere with services in commercial cells outside the prison.
Last year, Oklahoma seized more than 5,200 smuggled cellphones from inmates.Prison officials use this test to see if vandals can actually stop prisoners from using prohibited phones in prisons.The leaks are a bone of contention and an ongoing dispute between state and federal prison officials and the radio industry.This is the first collaboration between state and state prison authorities.The Justice Department left cellphones with test results in state prisons.The Justice Department released the results of its work on the miniature signal jammer.
While states may use jamming devices under federal law, it's still pending in the Senate and Senate.Prison officials in Oklahoma and South Carolina testified before an Oklahoma Senate committee that they had demonstrated the effectiveness of cellphone jamming technology.
The Justice Department said the tests concluded that the phones may not bleed in certain areas of the prison.Fights between rival gangs at an Oklahoma prison escalated rapidly over the use of cellphones last month, while one inmate was killed and a dozen were injured in fights at several other prisons, Carpenter said.Thousands of illegal cell phones end up in the hands of inmates using criminal tools.But prison officials said Monday that professional cell phone jammers are one of the best ways to prevent inmates from using their phones to commit crimes.
SCDC Director Brian Sterling said he has seen firsthand the effects of human intervention.Criminal companies use smuggled cellphones to operate, distribute child pornography and make it easier for prisoners to commit violent crimes while in custody, federal prison officials said in a release.Sterling said the tests showed that cell phone jamming technology could reduce the risk of crime and bloodshed, although cell phone signals outside prisons would be compromised.Mike Carpenter, director of security for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said contraband smuggling in prisons remains a serious problem.
