FCC schedules Feb 7 meeting to address prison cellphone issues

The Federal Communications Commission is following through on its promise to work with corrections and public safety officials to combat contraband cellphones in the nation’s prisons, setting a meeting in Feb to work on the issue.  The meeting among state and federal prisons officials, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, has been scheduled for February 7 at FCC headquarters. The arrangement shows the agency is making good on Chairman Ajit Pai’s October pledge to Rep David Kustoff (R-TN) that he would set up the meeting to address the problem of cellphones in the hands of inmates, an issue Rep Stirling and others have called the chief security threat in their institutions. “I share your concerns about the proliferation of contraband wireless devices in prisons and the potentially devastating implications for public safety,” Chairman Pai wrote then. “We continue our efforts to push for even better procedures and solutions for this very serious problem.”

In that letter, Chairman Pai said he would set up the meeting in Washington, and report its progress to Congress. Rep Kustoff said he was pleased FCC officials were “keeping their promise” to hold the meeting and looked forward to working with Pai and others to combat “this deeply concerning public safety threat.”