Texas to test wireless call blocking in prison

AUSTIN -- Texas officials plan to test cell phone jamming technology after a prison system lockdown and search turned up hundreds of smuggled mobile devices.

The test has been proposed for Dec. 18 at the Travis County state jail in Austin, the Austin American-Stateman reported in Wednesday editions.

House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden said he requested the test. Officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were working to set up the demonstration, said agency spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.

Florida-based CellAntenna Corp., which recently conducted a similar test in South Carolina, has agreed to do the Texas demonstration, said company spokeswoman Priscilla Doyle.

Prison officials from several states gathered at a South Carolina prison on Friday to see how the equipment blocks wireless calls. The technology prevents cell tower transmissions from reaching the phone.

Regulators can grant permission to federal agencies to use the technology but federal law prevents state and local agencies from jamming cell phone signals.

Still, prison officials hope they'll be granted permission to use the blocking technology. Officials say the consequences of inmates using cell phones can be alarming.

Authorities say a Maryland man was gunned down outside his home last summer after a suspect ordered a hit on him from behind bars.

In Texas last month, prison officials arrested the mother of death row inmate Richard Lee Tabler on charges she paid for minutes on a cell phone that had been smuggled to her condemned son. Authorities say Tabler called state Sen. John Whitmire to say he knew the names of the lawmaker's daughters.

During the lockdown, state prison officials found 16 cell phones, chargers and SIM cards on death row - among 143 smuggled devices found altogether in Texas prisons. Prison investigators have recovered five smuggled cell phones or components on death row since the statewide lockdown ended on Nov. 12.

Critics say it's impossible to contain the jamming technology to one or two buildings, and that using it runs the risk of affecting people using phones nearby. Earlier this month, Steve Largent, president of CTIA-The Wireless Association, called on the Federal Communications Commission to enforce the jamming ban.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has publicly offered support to law enforcement and prisons seeking to use jamming equipment, said agency spokesman Robert Kenny.

U.S. senators and several congressmen representing Texas are considering legislation to let state officials jam cell phone signals inside prisons, Madden said.

Officials at the South Carolina Department of Corrections plan to petition the FCC for permission to conduct a pilot program using the technology.