[AicapAifap] Corrections, Congress 'Encouraged' by Prison Phones Meeting

[Alliance of Incarcerated Canadians/Foreigners in American Prisons]

Corrections officials and members of Congress say they're encouraged
by a meeting with wireless industry representatives over security
issues posed by cellphones in the hands of the nation's inmates.
Feb. 8, 2018, at 1:20 p.m.  
Corrections, Congress 'Encouraged' by Prison Phones Meeting 
FILE - In this April 10, 2009, file photo, Correctional Officer Jose
Sandoval inspects one of the more than 2,000 cell phones confiscated
from inmates at California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville, Calif.
As prison officials combat contraband cellphones in the hands of the
nation’s inmates, a wireless trade group says court orders should be
required to shut down the devices. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
The Associated Press
By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Corrections officials and members of Congress
say they're hopeful a meeting this week with wireless industry
representatives will lead to a solution that combats security issues
posed by cellphones in the hands of the nation's inmates.
The Federal Communications Commission hosted the four-hour meeting
Wednesday in Washington, making good on a promise last year by FCC
Chairman Ajit Pai. Last year, Pai pledged to help facilitate the
conversation among law enforcement, prisons officials and wireless
providers, in hopes of battling the issue that corrections officers
say is their chief safety threat behind bars.
"I am encouraged by how seriously the FCC is taking the issue of
contraband cell phones in prisons," U.S. Rep. David Kustoff of
Tennessee told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I look forward to
the telecommunications industry working with state corrections
officials to put a stop to this concerning public safety threat."
Kustoff has been among those pushing for a fix to the phone problem.
He spoke with AP after being briefed by his state prisons director,
who was one of several attending the meeting. Representatives from the
U.S. Department of Justice and federal Bureau of Prisons were also at
the meeting, as was U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, who has spoken out about
the issue of cellphones in prison since his time as South Carolina's
governor from 2002 to 2010.Prisons officials say cellphones —
smuggled into their institutions by the thousands, by visitors, errant
employees, and even delivered by drone — are dangerous because
inmates use them to carry out crimes and plot violence both inside and
outside prison.
Officials including South Carolina Corrections Director Bryan
Stirling, who attended Wednesday's meeting, advocate cell signal
jamming as a way to fix the problem.The FCC, which regulates the
nation's airwaves, has said it can't permit jamming in state prisons,
citing a decades-old law that prohibits interruption of the airwaves
at state-level institutions.
Wireless industry groups oppose jamming, saying they worry
signal-blocking technologies could thwart legal calls. In a letter
filed with the FCC last month, trade group CTIA wrote that court
orders should be required to shut down devices in prison, arguing that
judicial review will provide a way to shut down the devices while not
interfering with legitimate cellphone calls nearby.
Representatives from CTIA attended Wednesday's meeting, which Stirling
said he found encouraging. In a statement, the group thanked Pai for
arranging the meeting and said its members "recognize the very real
threat that contraband devices pose in correctional facilities across
the nation, and we appreciate the commitment of all stakeholders to
identify and implement lawful solutions to this problem."
Talking with AP after the meeting, Stirling said prisons and wireless
providers plan to hold additional meetings in the coming months, in
the hopes of finding common ground on a technological solution to stop
the cellphone threat.
"I told them that seeing staff assaulted over cellphones has to stop,"
Stirling said. "We want to work with them on these solutions, but we
need to start putting our correctional officers' safety and public
safety first."
___
Kinnard can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP .
Read more of her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard .
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-carolina/articles/2018-02-08/corrections-congress-encouraged-by-prison-phones-meeting

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