FCC gives state prisons tech options to quash cellphones

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Federal regulators are giving state prisons across the country more technological options to combat contraband cellphones, which prison officials have long said represent the greatest security threat behind bars. The Federal Communications Commission had been set to discuss “taking steps to combat contraband wireless devices in correctional facilities” during a meeting Tuesday, but officials said at the beginning of the discussion that they had already adopted a ruling on the issue and wouldn’t be going over it. In a comment posted online, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the commission’s action “sets up a streamlined system for corrections department officials to use certified contraband interdiction systems to identify where contraband phones may be in use and request that wireless carriers have them deactivated.” The ruling responds to “last year’s appropriations legislation directing us to adopt rules to require wireless carriers to disable contraband devices upon proper identification,” she wrote. The move stops short of addressing out-and-out cell signal jamming, something prisons officials say would help them render contraband phones useless to inmates, who use the devices for unfettered, unmonitored communication.