Federal Government Makes Cell Phone Jamming Breakthrough

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The battle to remove cell phones from the hands of prison inmates saw a major breakthrough this week. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) authorized the first federally sanctioned test of cell phone signal jamming technology inside the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, MD using CellAntenna technology.

“This test should be a wakeup call for legislators and corrections departments everywhere, because it proves that cell phone jamming is a solution for making our prisons safer.”

CellAntenna, experts in jamming and boosting cell phone signals, demonstrated how jamming can be surgical enough to block illegal signals without affecting cell phone communications outside the prison perimeter. The February 17 test drew support from Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who backs allowing states to use jamming technology to curb problems resulting from prison inmates using contraband cell phones from inside correctional facilities.

The demonstration of this technology supports S251, a bill that is currently awaiting House approval, which would allow state authorities to use cell phone signals jamming devices in prisons. Under current law, only Federal agencies can use the technology.

“The issue of contraband cell phones inside America’s prisons has reached pandemic proportions, and this test is a big step toward ending the deaths and illegal activities that can be linked back to convicts with cell phone reception. The Federal government and the NTIA are acknowledging the fact that cell phones in prisons pose a deadly and unnecessary risk to citizens,” said Howard Melamed, CellAntenna CEO. “This test should be a wakeup call for legislators and corrections departments everywhere, because it proves that cell phone jamming is a solution for making our prisons safer.”

CellAntenna is cooperating with the NTIA and other Federal agencies to develop standards for jamming in prisons because the agencies recognize that the best solution to the issue of contraband cell phones is jamming.

The Maryland test comes after another conducted at a 400-inmate correctional facility in another state where CellAntenna’s new CJAM-CPC cell phone controlling technology was able to identify 239 cell phones.

“Quite obviously, the problem of cell phone use in prisons is bigger than anyone had thought,” said Melamed. “More than half of the inmates in the prison had cell phones, which is greater than the 10 percent rate that was expected.”