Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is looking to crack down on cell phone usage in state prisons and jails.
One measure he is proposing is the usage of cell phone jammers.
“We need to raise this issue because this can be a matter of life and death,” Carr said on WDUN’s The Martha Zoller Show. “This is what government is supposed to do, to keep people safe.”
Under the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines, cell phone jammers are prohibited except for “in certain limited exceptions” by federal law enforcement agencies.
Carr takes exception to this, pointing out the perceived hypocrisy that the federal government can use this technology while state agencies can not, claiming they are using jammers in one federal prison in Georgia.
Carr uses a recent example to elucidate his point, claiming an incarcerated leader of the street gang “Yves Saint Laurent Squad” used a contraband cell phone to order a hit, resulting in the death of an 88-year-old Georgia veteran. The indictments against three individuals in Long County Superior Court; Nathan Weekes, Dennis Kraft, and Keisha Jones, came in March 2023.
“If there’s one thing we can do that would seriously make a difference in violent crimes and scams it’s to be able to jam cell phones in prisons,” Carr said.
Carr also claims 8,074 phones were confiscated last year and 5,482 have been confiscated so far this year.
A document from the FCC claims that this issue is a “top priority” to them, but they take a different approach to the solution.
The FCC says that inmate call capture is a solution “with enormous potential to save lives and protect the public, while preserving public safety communications.”
The biggest issue for the FCC is that the jammers can interfere with 9-1-1 calls and public safety communications. Another issue outlined is cost, with the FCC claiming that jammers require “extensive engineering” to accommodate the effective coverage.
While Carr and the FCC may disagree on the means, they both agree that contraband cell phones in prisons are an issue that requires solution.
