SC Gov.-Elect Behind Effort to Let State Jails and Prisons Jam Illegal Cellphones

EASLEY, S.C.—South Carolina authorities in October charged 25 people, seized drugs and firearms, and raided a dogfighting ring, all allegedly orchestrated from state prison by inmates using smuggled cellphones.

Local law enforcement lacks authority to jam cellphone signals. That could soon change, the governor-elect said.

“You have people from within prison who are facilitating the trafficking of drugs. They’re facilitating gang hits, and they’re getting rich and becoming millionaires while they’re behind bars,” Attorney General Alan Wilson, now the state’s incoming governor, told The Epoch Times during an exclusive interview.

“We don’t have the adequate technology to prevent them from using cellphones.”

Federal prison authorities are currently allowed to use jamming technology to block inmates from using phones smuggled into the facilities, but the Communications Act from 1934 prohibits state and local law enforcement from deploying similar methods.

“If we could jam it the way the feds do, we would turn those phones into bricks,” Wilson said.

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“That is specifically technology that would create an artificial iron dome over a prison. So signals don’t come in, signals don’t go out.”

Wilson, along with a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, lobbied the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change the wording of the federal statute and grant states more leeway when dealing with cellphones in jails.

He described the change needed as minor, “adding two or three words” to the existing statute. A coalition of state officials has sought the amendment for at least a decade.

“For 10 years, we’ve been trying to get them to let the state prisons do it,” Wilson said. “But there are powerful lobbies in the telecommunications industry.”

FBI Director Kash Patel called Wilson during the interview with The Epoch Times on Oct. 22 to discuss the matter, prompting the attorney general to say something could happen soon.

The FCC did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment but announced on Oct. 28, following a roundtable discussion in Little Rock, Arkansas, that commissioners will vote on updating the rule during their meeting on Nov. 19.

Changing the Rules

A statement announcing the proposal, which would allow but not mandate the use of signal jamming technology, cited the widespread nature of the problem, with “thousands of contraband cellphones” inside jails and prisons nationwide.

Wilson commended Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin for leading the charge to change the law.

In the statement, Griffin described the vote as “an important step toward giving correctional facilities the ability to shut down these illegal communications and keep our communities safe.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr noted an increase in inmates using illegal phones to produce child sexual abuse material, among other crimes.

“While the FCC has authorized a range of solutions in the past, it has stopped short of allowing jamming.  That ends today,” Carr said in a statement. “We’re taking an aggressive, but responsible approach to empower those on the front lines to utilize all the options available to them, including jamming, for the first time.”

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is also seeking to codify the rule change with his “Cellphone Jamming Reform Act.”

“Contraband cellphones threaten everyone from law-abiding Arkansans to law enforcement officers,” Cotton said in a statement.

A 2020 study by nonprofit research group Urban Institute found that 25,000 cellphones were seized from 20 prisons in one year. Certain facilities are more impacted by the issue, with two prisons each recovering more than 6,000 devices.

If the commission approves the change, multiple rounds of testing would be mandated to ensure the jamming is contained and does not impact the public, and shutdown protocols would mitigate risks, according to the proposal.

Operation ‘Duffle Bag Boyz’

Five inmates at the South Carolina Department of Corrections are among 25 defendants facing 129 indictments in a case dubbed “Operation Duffle Bag Boyz,” announced Oct. 21 by Wilson’s office.

Investigators seized nearly 3 pounds of fentanyl and another 4 pounds that are believed to be the deadly opioid, with testing still ongoing, and 10,000 fentanyl pills. Nearly 7 pounds of methamphetamine and more than a pound of cocaine were also seized, and the narcotics were contaminated with fentanyl, according to Wilson.

“This is a really big deal, and of course what’s even also bad about this, is this conspiracy, with all these people on the outside, was facilitated by members who were still operating in prison,” Wilson said, noting that ringleaders have no fear of consequences since they’re already incarcerated.

A dogfighting ring was also raided, and 47 canines were taken from the premises. More than 30 firearms were seized during the operation. Those indicted face a range of charges, from narcotics trafficking and dogfighting to firearm possession, with several facing sentences of up to 40 years on a single trafficking charge.

The bust led state officials to call on the federal government to respond to rule change requests.

“These arrests highlight the urgent need for state prisons to be allowed to jam illegal cellphone signals and stop inmates from using contraband phones to commit crimes,” South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Joel Anderson said in a statement.

South Carolina’s grand jurors issued a report last year calling for federal action after brothers Darrell and Matthew McCoy were found guilty of directing large-scale methamphetamine trafficking from within a state prison, with amounts totaling approximately 630 kilograms.

Other instances of inmates using illicit devices to commit crimes include the 2013 murder of federal correctional officer Lt. Osvaldo Albarati at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Puerto Rico. A methamphetamine ring allegedly directed by 27 inmates in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections resulted in charges last year, and convictions for gang-related kidnappings, murder, and scams, among other crimes, were reported by various law enforcement agencies in recent years.

Wilson noted the longstanding issue’s impact on national security and applauded the FCC’s announcement.

“We are making some real headway,” he said.

Governor-Elect

Wilson, a colonel and 30-year combat veteran with the South Carolina Army National Guard who will soon be promoted to Brigadier General, won the race for governor by more than four percentage points over Democrat Jermaine Johnson and seeks to govern using the skills he learned throughout his career.

“I have led soldiers under hostile conditions,” he said, emphasizing his preparedness to serve as commander in chief of the state’s National Guard.

“I’ve been in over a dozen natural disaster events from the emergency preparedness standpoint.”

First elected attorney general in 2010, he’s since overseen the recovery of nearly $2 billion in fraud and corruption, protected the state’s voter ID law, and defended immigration laws, among other priorities.

When he serves as governor, he plans to lower taxes in the Palmetto State, including using a multi-year approach to lower the income tax for residents and businesses, with a goal of luring investments and boosting economic activity.

“Making us more competitive is something I want to do,” Wilson said.

“I want to challenge the status quo. I want to say we’re not going to do things just because we’ve always done it that way. I do not aspire to be a transitional governor. I aspire to be a transformational governor.”

The 53-year-old’s story began in 1973, born to a Vietnam Airborne Infantry Ranger father, Michael Allen McCrory, who was killed when a helicopter crashed during a training exercise in 1975.

In 1977, Wilson’s mother, Roxanne, married Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a congressman since 2001, who raised the young child as one of his own. The incoming governor credits the love, in part, to his success.

“Dad would come in and hear my prayers when I was a little boy, and he would always say things to me like, ‘Alan, there are kids in this world who do not have a dad in their life that loved them. You know, you were so blessed that God gave you two dads or allowed you to have two dads that loved you with all their heart,’” Wilson said, vowing to lead with compassion.

“I want to be a kind of governor that can bring people together to accomplish the most good for the most people we can in our state.”