If she gets her way, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, will “bar” prisoners from using cell phones.
Hutchison on Thursday introduced the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 aimed at preventing prison inmates from using smuggled cell phones. Hutchison developed the bill after a Texas death row inmate last year used a smuggled cell phone to make threatening calls to a state lawmaker.
If passed, the bill would allow some federal or state officials to ask the FCC for permission to jam cell calls in certain prisons. The FCC would have to determine whether the jamming would interfere with emergency or public safety communications.
Cell phone use in prisons has become a controversial topic. Some prison officials recently started asking authorities if they may use jammers to block prisoners’ cell calls because the cells are not allowed. Jamming is an illegal practice, but the FCC can grant leeway to institutions such as prisons. Wireless carriers and associations, however, protest the idea because they would lose traffic.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, co-sponsored the bill.
