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Attorney General Griffin Joins Senator Cotton in Washington to Support Cellphone Jamming Reform Act

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Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Attorney General Griffin Joins Senator Cotton in Washington to Support Cellphone Jamming Reform Act

Tim

Attorney General Tim Griffin | Attorney General Tim Griffin Official U.S. House Headshot

During a press conference in Washington D.C. , Attorney General Tim Griffin announced his support of the Cell Phone Jamming Reform Act introduced by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Congressman David Kustoff (R-TN):

“Examples of violent criminals using contraband cell phones in Arkansas prisons include:

  • Samuel Hartman whose escape from the Arkansas Department of Corrections was like something out of a movie. Hartman planned his escape using a contraband cellphone and involved his wife and mother picking him up in a bulletproof vehicle where they traveled to a nearby boat ramp and used jet skis to flee.
  • Antwon Simmons orchestrated a takeover of a maximum-security unit in an Arkansas prison via a contraband cellphone.
  • On at least two occasions, contraband cellphones contained Child Sexual Abuse Materials in Arkansas prisons.
  • Prisoners used a contraband cellphone to extort money from a mother outside of the prison by threatening to kill her son.
“Contraband cellphones are widely used in federal and state prisons, enabling inmates to engage in illegal activities such as ordering hits, running drug operations, facilitating sex trafficking, and organizing escapes. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has failed to grant states the authority to jam these devices. The Cellphone Jamming Reform Act seeks to address this issue by explicitly allowing states to implement jamming systems inside correctional facilities.

“This legislation will help us in the fight against crime within prisons and will protect our state’s correctional employees, other inmates, and members of the public.

“Here’s the bottom line: We know what the problem is. We know how to fix it. It’s about time we get this done.”

Congress should act now to allow state and federal correctional facilities to utilize jamming equipment. Currently, federal prisons are not authorized to use cellphone jamming technology due to restrictions under the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits non-federal entities from interfering with radio signals.

Original source can be found here.

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