In yet another development regarding the controversy of jamming calls placed by inmates on contraband cell phones, the Federal Communications Commission has granted the District of Columbia Department of Corrections permission to conduct a test on Thursday, January 8, 2009. Despite the legal ban on jamming radio waves within the United States, an FCC official characterized this jamming as being in the public interest since “cell phones are used by inmates to engage in highly pernicious behavior such as intimidation of witnesses, coordination of escapes, and the conducting of criminal enterprises.”The test is scheduled to take place from 11:30 am to 1 pm using CellAntenna Corporation’s directional jamming. The actual use of the device is to last no longer than 30 minutes. The two provisos set by the Commission are that the jamming must not interfere with legitimate wireless communications outside the DC Jail and that it must not interfere with the non-blocked frequency bands used by corrections employees for wireless communication.The actual correspondence granting permission can be found on the FCC website.
FCC Okays Test of Jamming Devices in DC Correctional Institution
