The Federal Communications Commission will vote Nov. 19 on rules that would let state and local prisons and jails apply to jam cellphone signals inside their facilities, Chair Brendan Carr said^1,2,3,4.

The vote would reverse a longstanding FCC stance that non-federal parties may not interfere with licensed radio communications, including cellular service^1,3,4. Federal prisons have been able to test or use jamming, including Bureau of Prisons micro-jamming trials begun in 2018, while state systems have been barred from the same tools^1,2,4.

Carr announced the schedule at a Little Rock, Arkansas, news conference with Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and corrections officials from Arkansas and South Carolina^2,4. Use would be optional: facilities would apply, describe their plan and obtain FCC approval rather than being required to jam^1,2,4.

Officials said contraband phones have been used to run drug operations, extortion schemes and violence directed outside prison walls^2,3,4. Carr said in a statement that contraband phones have poured into prisons and that some of the worst offenders have used them to order hits and coordinate gang activity³. South Carolina Corrections Director Joel Anderson said, "This change will make all of America safer"².

Carr said last year that the ban stemmed from a misreading of the law and that the new approach would treat phones inside prisons as unauthorized so jamming would not interfere with licensed service⁴. The draft requires a commission-authorized "jamming containment area," experimental-license testing to show no harmful interference outside that area, on-site testing before operations, and advance notice to carriers, FirstNet, public-safety coordinators and 911 authorities, with nearby communities notified before deployment^1,3.

When the FCC advanced a draft in 2025, Commissioner Anna Gomez urged a pilot, saying she worried about unintended consequences of letting non-federal actors jam and of putting jamming equipment on the American market³. Past FCC materials cited risks to emergency communications and of jamming tools being misused if they spread¹.

Civil-liberties groups and people who have been incarcerated argue phones are also used to reach family and to document prison conditions^3,4. John Williams of the ACLU of Arkansas said making official prison calls cheaper, not a sweeping jam, is the better way to cut contraband use⁴. Kaleem Nazeem of decARcerate said most users are trying to stay in contact with loved ones⁴. Incarcerated journalists have said the push would silence reporting that helped prompt a 2024 Justice Department finding of unconstitutional conditions in Georgia prisons³.

Carr said the authorization is unique to prisons and jails and is not under consideration for other places, and that court challenges are possible if the commission adopts the rule⁴. Cotton has also introduced legislation, including the Cellphone Jamming Reform Act of 2025, that has not advanced to a Senate committee vote^3,4. South Carolina's prison chief said he will seek permission for all 21 state prisons if the rule passes².

What remains unknown is how the three-member commission will vote, how many facilities would apply, and whether testing will satisfy nearby communities and public-safety radio users^1,3,4.