For many years, officials in South Carolina have been determined to eliminate the presence of unauthorized cell phones in their prisons.
According to Bryan Stirling, the U.S. District Attorney for South Carolina, inmates have been using these banned phones to carry out criminal activities, handle drug operations, and even liaise with criminal organizations like cartels.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under the leadership of Brendan Carr, who was appointed by Trump, declared last week that a vote will take place later this month regarding allowing states to disrupt cell phone signals.
“I was thrilled when Brendan Carr was appointed in January 2025, as he was familiar with this issue and clearly invested in it. I was genuinely surprised and pleased when he decided to take this action,” stated Stirling, a key advocate for this initiative for over ten years.
Joel Anderson, Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, highlighted that cell phones are not only prohibited in prisons but also pose a threat both to inmates and the general public.
“It’s not a joke. This is not a game that we play,” Anderson added.
The Department of Corrections reported finding around 2,600 illegal phones last year, with an additional 300 discovered just last month in the state’s prison facilities.
Some prisoners are receiving phones through Corrections officers, and even drones that are being flown over 60-feet-high nets to drop the cell phones for the inmates.
“State prison should be able to interfere and jam cell phones. It’s a matter of public safety and safety for the prisons,” Stirling said.
Anderson added inmates with these phones are coordinating drug crimes, claiming that 100% of drug dealing cases in South Carolina have a connection to inside state prisons.
“We found enough fentanyl in one of our prisons to kill the entire prison system. I mean… in Lexington County… they found enough, they told us to kill millions of people,” Anderson said.
Authorities are reporting there have been several cases where inmates have used illegal techonolgy to even order hits.
“Look no further than Captain Robert Johnson. He was a Contraband Captain from Lee Correctional. He was shot five or six times, point blank in his home because he was doing his job at Lee Correctional. That man has had so many surgeries, I’ve lost count. He’s lucky to be alive. He is a true miracle,” said Stirling.
But some people say that State Prisoners will still need to connect with their families, but Stirling said they will still have the ability to contact their families or 9-1-1 if there is an emergency through their tablets or the prison wall phones. Stirling said the Communications Act of 1934 said state prisons cannot interfere with radio frequency.
“It says you cannot, the Feds can, but states cannot interfere with an authorized signal. My argument is that this is not an authorized signal, that this is an illegal signal, because it’s in the hands of an inmate behind bars, at Departments of Corrections or Detention Centers across the country,” said Stirling.
If the FCC approves, they could jam signals in state prisons making illegal phones useless.
“I believe that when it goes to vote, there’s, there’s not going to be much opposition. This is nationwide and it’s everywhere, ” Anderson added.
Stirling said the people who oppose this are big cellular companies like AT&T, Verizon, etc.
Stirling said he tested the jamming technology back in 2017 and has systems ready to expand. He said the General Assembly gave them the money, and with F.C.C. approval, they could act fast, and basically just flip a switch.
