A resolution urging Congress to let officials block cellphone signals in prisons, jails and youth detention centers passed unanimously Tuesday in committee.
Senate Resolution 858 comes as Georgia corrections officials confiscated more than 8,700 illegal cellphones last year and said cellphone smuggling was the most pressing problem they faced.
Existing technology called "jammers" can block cellphone signals, allowing prison systems to combat the problem. But the Federal Communications Commission has not allowed states to use the devices, despite a report from the National Institute of Justice that indicates cellphone use is a problem at prisons across the country:
State officials said inmates and detainees illegally use cellphones to coordinate attacks and protests, expand gang activity and increase their money and power while incarcerated.
In Georgia, it is a felony to smuggle a cellphone into prison, with a maximum punishment of five years behind bars. The prison system asks the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to extend sentences by six months for all inmates caught with cellphones.
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