Did not realize that it so hard to prevent prisoners from using cellphones, even jamming tech has its drawbacks....
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2350269,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121For most of us, our knowledge of this country's prison system is limited to a few episodes of "Prison Break" or that weathered DVD copy of "The Shawshank Redemption", and I imagine we'd like to keep it that way.
It should come as no surprise, however, that prisoners frequently get their hands on restricted items like cell phones and are able to continue their criminal activity from behind bars or use the devices to intimidate witnesses or victims.
But with more than two million people in prisons or jails at any given time, it is difficult for guards and corrections officials to police or stop the distribution of these devices.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, is crafting legislation that would permit prisons to use jamming technologies that cut off wireless signals and essentially make the phones useless bricks. The use of this technology is illegal because it might disrupt legitimate cell phone traffic as well as emergency radio communications, but the senator's bill would allow the Federal Communications Commission to grant waivers to correctional facilities for the right to use jamming technology.
