Legislation targets contraband use of cellphones in prison facilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has joined U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in introducing legislation to combat the illicit use of contraband cellphones by prisoners in federal and state prisons.

The Cellphone Jamming Reform Act of 2025 (S.1137) would allow state and federal prisons to use cellphone jamming systems to prevent inmates from using contraband cellphones in prison facilities.  It would authorize systems to disrupt, prevent, interfere with, or jam wireless communication into, from, or within a correctional facility.

“Jamming technologies are advanced enough to be deployed to stop cellphones from becoming weapons in the hands of inmates,” Senator Hyde-Smith said.  “Our corrections systems need this legislation to have clear authorization to jam contraband cellphones in state and federal prisons.”

“For far too long, contraband cellphones have been a major security threat in our prisons, allowing criminals to coordinate crimes from behind bars.  This legislation is a common-sense step to cut off their ability to threaten witnesses, organize drug trafficking, and endanger law-abiding citizens from within prison walls,” said Senator Cotton.

S.1137 is part of an ongoing effort to fight the widespread use of contraband cellphones by prisoners in federal and state prison facilities to conduct illegal activities, including ordering hits on individuals outside of the prison walls, running illegal drug operations, conducting illegal business deals, facilitating sex trafficking, and organizing escapes which endanger correctional employees, other inmates, and members of the public.

In addition to Hyde-Smith, additional original cosponsors of Cotton’s bill include U.S. Senators James Risch (R-Idaho), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.)

Last year, Hyde-Smith introduced the END CELLS Act to make it unlawful for anyone to provide or attempt to provide a federal, state, or local prisoner with a wireless communications device and further make it unlawful for a prisoner to possess such a device while incarcerated.