DOJ Says Jamming of Cell Signals in Prisons Doesn't Violate Federal Law

DOJ endorses jamming cell signals in correctional facilities, it said in a letter to the FCC Tuesday. Carriers oppose jamming to shut down the growing flood of contraband cellphones (see 1703130062). Commissioners approved rules and a Further NPRM on contraband cellphones in March, tackling a top priority for Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1703230056). The Monday letter was posted Tuesday in docket 13-111.

The department said jamming doesn't necessarily violate 47 U.S. Code § 333. The law “generally prohibits ‘willfully or maliciously’ interfering with an authorized station's radio communications, [but] the statute does not necessarily preclude the Commission's authorization of justifiable law enforcement use of targeted jamming to prevent inmates from using contraband cellphones to further their illegal activities,” said the letter, signed by Beth Williams, assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Policy.

Williams said contraband cellphones are a growing problem, especially at the state and local level. The Bureau of Prisons “confiscated 5,116 cellphones from its facilities in 2016,” she wrote. “BOP projects that confiscations will increase by 28 percent in 2017. The Department understands that the problem is significantly worse in state and local correctional facilities.”

Wireless industry officials told us the letter was a huge development and negative for carriers fighting use of jammers in correctional facilities. It's "a big victory for Pai,” said a lawyer with wireless industry clients. “The overwhelming bipartisan consensus for years was that cellphone blocking was prohibited by statute.”

Justice “understandably wants to be supportive of requests from some correctional officials, but these comments are ill-informed,” said Jamie Barnett of Venable, former chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau. “DOJ ignores those jurisdictions and other countries who have tried jamming and found it to be ineffective. ... As long as jammers are illegal in the U.S., they are contraband. By legalizing them, even if only for law enforcement use, more jammers will be in the hands of the public and available to criminals and terrorists.” Barnett said DOJ also misinterpreted the statute. “The jammer is willful and the authorized station is the carrier, not the person holding the cellphone,” he said. “The FCC needs to find new technologies, like beacon technology, not old and ineffective ones.”

The FCC has to weigh the rights to wireless service for people who live near prisons with the legitimate need of correctional facilities to control inmates, said Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. “Airwaves know no walls and this decision will impact people who live inside and outside prisons. For the people who live in the jamming zones around prisons, life will be pushed back to the 1980s and their property values will be significantly negatively impacted.”

“The wireless industry continues to work with all stakeholders, including government, the public safety community and technology providers, to combat contraband phones in prisons," a CTIA spokesman said. "Effective and lawful solutions to this problem will require action by all stakeholders to achieve a comprehensive remedy.”