22.Nearly 20 million euros for the jamming of mobile phones in prison

The prisons want telephone jammers to prevent detainees from communicating with the outside world … Indeed, the smuggling of cell phones into prison is a problem. According to FCC data, more than 8,700 cell phones were found in federal prisons between 2012 and 2014. It is clear that being able to communicate with the outside world is one of the pleasures that inmates generally can not afford. to offer oneself.

Only – and that’s what’s bothering the government – it means that inmates can continue their criminal activities in prison. It seems that the Department of Justice could have a solution to this problem: cell phone jammer.

A report was released in June where teams say they have successfully tested the use of a phone scrambler that would prevent smuggling signals. As Motherboard points out, jammers are an inexpensive solution to the problem. A quick search on Google gives results indicating that they are sold at a price ranging from 119 to 650 dollars.

This seems like a good answer, but some are skeptical about such a proposal. Ben Levitan, a North Carolina-based wireless expert, said it may suggest “cronyism”:

“Enabling scrambling technology is a very slippery slope, and once that door is open, we can not go back. I have been in this business for 30 years. If someone is advocating new technologies, he probably knows someone who sells equipment or has some “