The Florida Department of Corrections is supporting a proposal that would allow prisons to jam contraband cellphones.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday that the agency plans to vote at its Sept. 30 meeting on a proposal to lift a restriction currently preventing state and federal prisons from jamming signals of phones prisoners aren’t allowed to have.
In a Wednesday press release, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon expressed the department’s commitment to working with federal and state leaders to implement this solution and help ensure community safety.
The debate over using technology to block the devices — often smuggled behind bars and even delivered over prison fences by drones and hollowed-out footballs — has been ongoing for years. Prison officials say these actions allow inmates to run criminal enterprises while incarcerated.
According to Carr, using jamming technology would not be mandatory for any prison. Currently, officials rely on other methods to keep illegal phones out, including scans and netting installed along prison borders to deter people from throwing phones over fences.