Policyband

Carr Confident Courts Will Back FCC on Cell Phone Jamming in State Prisons

‘This isn’t going to be a silver bullet at the end of the day but is a tool that has been denied law enforcement and corrections officials for too long’

Ted Hearn

Oct 29, 2026 — 8 min read

Photo of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin

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Jamming: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the FCC will vote Nov. 19 on final rules that would, for the first time, allow state and federal prisons and jails to jam contraband cellphones. Carr announced the proposal during an Oct. 28 event in Arkansas, joining Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. “We’ve seen now examples where prisoners are using cell phones to pressure and coerce people into engaging in all sorts of lurid, illegal acts with young children, and have videos of that sent inside a prison,” Carr said at a Little Rock press conference. “I think the general public has not been aware of the scope and scale of the contraband problem.” (More after paywall)