Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Grits for Breakfast

Criminal Law

: Grits for Breakfast

FCC has no authority to approve cell phone jammers

At yesterday's Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing, legislators demanded that the Department of Criminal Justice seek Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to install cell phone jammers at Texas prison units. According to this AP article, though, the FCC has no such authority:"We have no authority to even grant it if we thought it was worthwhile or something that was warranted," said Robert Kenny, a spokesman for the FCC. "It's likely going to take some level of action by Congress."That news certainly casts a different light on the senators' conversation yesterday about eliminating cell phones in prison. I'm guessing Congress might support the jammer idea down the line, but it's not something, apparently, that could happen immediately...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).