Gov. John deJongh Jr. has joined other governors around the U.S. in pushing Congress to pass a bill that would allow prisons officials to block calls from illegal cell phones and other wireless devices.
The federal Safe Prisons and Communications Act of 2009, sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas), recently passed through the U.S. Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and is now on its way to the full Senate for consideration. Under the bill, state prisons directors and governors can petition the Federal Communications Commission for the authority to install devices that would interrupt, prevent or block calls coming from a specific prison, jail or correctional facility.
“For too long we have been aware of the illegal use of cell phones by inmates at our prisons," deJongh said in a statement Thursday. "The use of cell phones and other electronic devices smuggled into our prisons have facilitated the introduction of contraband to our jails and, in some instances, have been used to assist in jail breaks."
The federal bill has been introduced at a time when local prisons and detention centers are "undergoing constant reform," to include the recent creation of a stand-alone Bureau of Corrections, the governor added.
"This legislation also seeks to address a problem we have seen locally, prisoners using cell phones to continue their criminal enterprises from behind bars by threatening and intimidating witnesses and in some cases, ordering murders," deJongh said.
DeJongh, along with 19 other governors from across the country, made his support for the bill clear in a letter sent earlier this week to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader John A. Boehner.
"As Governors charged with overseeing state correctional facilities, we are using every tool currently available to us to confront this growing national problem," the letter says. "However, one tool not yet available to us is technology to defeat inmate use of cell phones. Current federal law prohibits states from using wireless technology to thwart illegal cell phone use, even in the narrow confines of a prison or jail. Moreover, current federal law prohibits states from even petitioning the federal government for such authority or from conducting necessary tests or demonstrations of the technology."
But passing the bill would give each state access to the kind of technology that, according to various national websites, is becoming a more "common law enforcement tool." According to information from the National Conference on State Legislatures, such devices can stop remote-controlled bombs and prevent suspects from erasing evidence, among other things.
"On July 20, 2009, at the National Governors Association annual meeting, we adopted a policy on ‘Curbing Wireless Technology Use in Prisons,’" the governors’ recent letter said. "The policy was adopted with unanimous bipartisan support. We believe the legislation is consistent with this policy. With 10 co-sponsors from both parties in the Senate, and 43 co-sponsors from both parties in the House, our delegations in Washington understand the importance of this legislation and the need to demonstrate and fully evaluate the performance of wireless prison security technologies. We urge you to thoughtfully consider and swiftly pass the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009."
