Federal legislation allowing states to jam cellphones smuggled into prisons has won support from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and other attorneys general.
Mayes joined a bipartisan coalition that wrote a letter to majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate last week in support of H.R. 2350 and S. 1137, federal legislation that supporters say disrupt prisoners’ ability to orchestrate crimes from behind bars by using cellphones smuggled into prisons.
The bills, which are sponsored by U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, allow states to deploy cellphone jamming systems.
The letter to Congress stresses that phones go beyond being communication devices to being tools that criminals use to commit crimes. It cites a case of a violent gang leader who used a cellphone smuggled into prison to target a local prosecutor and her family in North Carolina.
Besides Mayes, attorney generals signing the letter represent Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
