By Meg Kinnard, Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Prisons chiefs from more than two dozen states have signed a petition asking federal regulators' permission to jam cell phone signals inside state penitentiaries and thwart inmates' forbidden phone calls, the director of South Carolina's prison system said Monday.
Corrections Director Jon Ozmint said his petition, which was filed Monday with the FCC, includes signatures from corrections directors in 26 states, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
"Prison systems from every corner of this country, from Georgia to New York to California to South Dakota, have signed this petition," he said. "These are the people who understand prison best and who realize just how dangerous it is for an inmate to possess a cell phone."
Ozmint, who has been outspoken in his campaign to jam the signals, says contraband cell phones allow inmates unfettered opportunities to communicate and plan other crimes. Inmates in several states, including Maryland, Texas and Kansas, have been accused of doing just that.
Under current law, however, the FCC can only allow federal agencies — not state or local authorities — permission to jam cell phone signals. But Ozmint says he views that provision of the law differently.
"It is clear that Congress, in deliberating this matter, did not intend to limit the jurisdiction of the Commission by forbidding it from ever authorizing any jamming," Ozmint wrote in his petition. "This is a far cry from a Congressional mandate to never authorize any jamming."
Ozmint says he hopes the FCC will agree with his interpretation. But if a change in the law is needed, legislative support is already in place. U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Texas' two senators are sponsoring a bill that would allow prisons to use jamming technology, and governors in other states have asked their lawmakers to support it.
The bill, which was introduced in January, is gaining traction on the Hill. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is set to consider it Wednesday, and a companion bill is pending before a House Judiciary subcommittee.
"We hope that the FCC will take appropriate action to allow prisons to jam cell phones. But, if not we expect that Congress will eventually take such action," Ozmint said. "We only hope that they will do so before more innocent lives are lost."
In November, Ozmint invited a Florida-based company to a maximum security prison to demonstrate its jamming equipment, which prevents cell tower transmissions from reaching a phone. During the demonstration, a frequency immediately shut down cell phones around the prison's auditorium. But outside the room, cell service was uninterrupted, and law enforcement radios operated successfully.
Ozmint then asked the FCC to change its policy and sought permission to conduct a pilot jamming program. That request is still pending.
An FCC spokesman said he had not seen Ozmint's latest petition and could not comment.
Critics say it's impossible to jam signals in just one or two buildings, possibly affecting other people trying to make legitimate calls.
"In order to sufficiently block signals in an entire facility, one would have to deploy a technique that will result in overjamming," said John Walls, a spokesman for CTIA. "The laws of physics cannot stop and start at prison walls or fences or streets. Interference beyond a facility is inevitable. The fact is that there are a number of legal, viable and effective alternatives available today to take care of the same problem."
Walls suggested using electronic scanners to detect contraband cell signals.
"Ever since we've been locking them up, people behind bars have been finding ways to communicate with people outside the walls," he said. "This is just the latest iteration of that."
That solution, Ozmint said Monday, would be less effective and more costly than jamming all signals. To fully block cell signals at a maximum security facility home to the state's death row would cost about $250,000, he said, while using scanning machines would cost more than $1 million.
"We know this jamming technology works," Ozmint said. "The only question is, are we going to avail ourselves of this technology before somebody else gets hurt?"