Jamming Prison Cell Phones Threatens Public Safety, Groups Tell Senate

A day in advance of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on legislation (S. 251) to allow interference with cellular phones in prisons, nine public interest groups and consumer organizations told the Committee in a July 14 letter that the legislation would cause more serious problems than it would solve. "Jamming prison cell phones would jeopardize public safety because there is no way to jam only phones used by prisoners. All wireless communications could be shut down within a prison," said Harold Feld, legal director for Public Knowledge, adding, "Jamming won't work. You can beat jammers with a few pieces of tin foil. We have better ways of dealing with the problem. Feld also warned: "Once such a jamming device is built, it will inevitably become available on a wider basis. Who knows what chaos that will cause?" According to the letter, "Only a complete prohibition on cell phone jammers has successfully limited the sale and deployment of them in this country. Despite their availability in other countries, use of cell phone jammers in this country is forced underground and does little to interfere with commercial or public safety wireless use." The threat of widespread jammers is one reason commercial and public safety licensees oppose the attempts of one company, CellAntenna, to deploy the technology.