FCC to vote on letting prisons and jails opt in to cellphone jamming
If adopted, facilities could use jammers only after showing they do not cause harmful interference beyond their designated areas.
The US Federal Communications Commission has announced a vote for its November 19 open meeting on a rule that would let state and local prisons and jails opt in to using cellphone jammers to cut off contraband phone use by inmates. Adoption would not force any facility to use the technology. Jamming is currently illegal for non-federal parties, and the FCC has long resisted it over concerns about interference with emergency and public safety communications and the risk that jamming tools could be misused. The proposal would also give federal facilities a formal route to jam signals, building on a Federal Bureau of Prisons micro-jamming trial that began in 2018. Any approved facility would have to show the jamming does not cause harmful interference beyond its designated area, and the move marks a shift from earlier FCC policy on prisons.
Why it matters
The proposal would end the current ban on jamming for non-federal parties, but only for prisons and jails that choose to use it. Those facilities would have to demonstrate that signals are not disrupted outside their designated areas. The FCC has long resisted jamming because of risks to emergency and public safety communications, so the outcome of the November 19 vote would mark a clear shift in its policy on prisons.
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