The agency will vote next month on relaxing its longstanding opposition to jammers.
The US Federal Communications Commission announced today that it will vote on a new rule that would allow state prisons and jails to use cell phone jammers. The aim of the change would be to block the use of illegal cell phones by prisoners, as contact from the outside would allow them to continue engaging in criminal activities.
The planned vote during the agency’s open meeting on November 19 would consider allowing state and local prison facilities to use jammers; the use of technology would not be required. Any tech that interferes with communication signals is illegal for use by non-federal parties. In 2018, the Federal Bureau of Prisons began testing “micro-jamming” in federal prisons as a way to block unauthorized cell phone use by inmates. That move would potentially open up similar tools at the state and local level, and provide a formal way for federal facilities to block signals as well.
It is a reversal of previous policies where the FCC did not allow jammers to be implemented as a method to reduce illegal cell phone use in prisons. Previous concerns about jammers have suggested the tech could affect emergency and public safety communications, as well as create new security risks by putting more jamming tools into the wild, where they can be exploited by bad actors. Today’s bulletin notes that if the new rules are adopted, correctional facilities must meet several standards, including proving “that the jamming solution does not cause harmful interference outside the designated geographic areas.”
Today’s move isn’t the first time the FCC has changed its approach to prisons under the current administration. In July 2025, the department said it was delaying the implementation of a cap on charges for prison phone calls.