Mikulski release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
29-Oct-2009

CONTACT: Press Office
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Mikulski Insists Commerce Secretary, FCC Chairman Respond to Request for Cell Phone Jamming Test Without Further Delay

Senator makes case for cell phone jamming technology demonstration in Maryland

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) has requested that U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski respond to her request for a cell phone jamming technology demonstration at a Maryland prison without further delay. On June 15, 2009, Senator Mikulski and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley requested a demonstration of technology that blocks cell signals and stops criminals from using cell phones to commit crimes from behind bars.

“This delay is unacceptable and has gone on long enough,” said Senator Mikulski, who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the U.S. Department of Commerce. “Like all Marylanders, I was shocked and dismayed to hear about this new practice of criminals using cell phones insides prisons to organize horrible crimes in our communities. And now I am shocked by this delay. The cell phone jamming demonstration Governor O’Malley and I requested will give us critical information about new tools to help prison officials stop criminals and protect communities. I want a response without further delay.”

Corrections departments across the country are reporting a sharp increase in the number of cell phones smuggled into prison facilities. In 2008, Maryland corrections officers confiscated 847 illegal cell phones in Maryland, 2,809 in California, and 1,861 in Mississippi. Prisoners are using these phones to commit crimes.

In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Senator Mikulski and Governor O’Malley requested that NTIA join or support the demonstration of jamming technology at a Maryland prison. The NTIA oversees domestic telecommunications policy activities and resolves technical telecommunications issues for the Federal government and private sector. Its commissioner responded a month later saying the NTIA would coordinate an approach with the FCC and would provide a follow-up response, which Senator Mikulski has yet to receive.

“We need every available technology to combat cell phone use by inmates to improve public safety in our communities, and every day of delay is a day inmate criminals have technology at their disposal to carry out crimes from within the walls of a prison,” said Governor O’Malley. “Demonstrating this important technology will allow members of Congress to gain the necessary knowledge to vote on this legislation and help the Administration develop policy, which can move us one step closer to eliminating the current federal ban on jamming technology and improve public safety nationwide.”

On October 5, the Senate passed the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 (S.251), which allows states to petition the FCC for the authority to block the use of cell phones from prison. Senator Mikulski is an original co-sponsor of the bill. Under current law, the FCC does not allow cell phone jamming of any kind. The bill awaits action by the House of Representatives.

Senator Mikulski’s letter can be found here: http://mikulski.senate.gov/_pdfs/Press/Oct2009CellPhoneJammingLetter.pdf

Text of the letter follows:

Dear Secretary Locke and Chairman Genachowski:

I am frustrated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) delay in approving a cell phone jamming demonstration at a Maryland prison. Governor Martin O’Malley and I requested this demonstration in a June 15, 2009 letter to NTIA. Illegal cell phone use in prisons allows criminals across the country to continue to commit crimes from behind bars. This demonstration will inform Congress on the availably technology to help fight this urgent problem.

At the request of the federal government, the State of Maryland houses hundreds of federal inmates who are awaiting trial or sentencing in federal court. A particularly appropriate venue for the jamming demonstration in Maryland would be the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, which houses up to 240 federal pre-trial and pre-sentencing inmates on any given day.

One month after my inquiry, Administrator Lawrence Strickling responded by stating that NTIA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were working on a coordinated approach, and that he would provide a follow-up response. Now, more than four months after my original inquiry, I have not received any proposed plans, timetables or approval. I understand Governor O’Malley recently received a letter from Secretary Locke stating that NTIA may consider performing a test at its facility in Boulder, CO. This is not what we requested.

This delay is unacceptable and has gone on long enough. I expect NTIA and FCC to provide a definitive plan for this cell phone jamming demonstration to occur at a Maryland prison. I expect one of your agencies to approve this request without further delay. Most of all, I expect some cooperation.

I look forward to hearing from you immediately regarding your agencies’ progress in this matter.

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