US jails want to install telephone jammers to prevent inmates from communicating with the outside world. Thanks to phones bought under the mantle, the prisoners manage indeed to continue their criminal activities while being under locks.
Between 2012 and 2014, the US Department of Justice has recovered more than 8,700 cellphones illegally obtained by prisoners. In comparison, 40,000 mobile phones and accessories were seized in 2017 in French prisons, according to the Directorate of Prison Administration (DAP).
Prisons want to prevent detainees from contacting outside accomplices
A report published in June 2018 by the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, suggests the installation of telephone jammers in US prisons, report our colleagues Motherboard. For those who do not know it, scrambling is a device that will transmit a continuous tone to the antennas, preventing any cellular phone from making, receiving, or sending or receiving messages.
A first cell phone jammer test has even been successfully completed, explains the site. The installation of it drastically lowered the smuggling in the prison. The FCC report first outlines the financial side of the solution. A phone jammer only costs between $ 119 to $ 650. Similarly, the installation of a housing is very easy and discreet.
If the idea is appreciatedby many institutions, some experts fear drifts. “I have been in this business for 30 years. If someone advises a new technology, he probably knows someone selling equipment or who has one, “warns Ben Levitan, a communications expert. The man fears that the management of the jammers is left to private companies, which could be corrupted. What do you think of this measure?