LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (WLBT) – A vote scheduled before the Federal Communications Commission next month could cut down on contraband at Hinds County Detention Center.
On Nov. 19, FCC is expected to vote on a rule that would allow state and local prisons and jails to jam contraband cellphones.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr made the announcement at a meeting in Little Rock on Wednesday, calling it “a clear win for the American people.”
“For years, thousands upon thousands of contraband cell phones have been pouring into prisons, and some of the worst possible offenders have been using them to order hits, coordinate violent gang activity, and aid criminal enterprises,” Carr said in a statement. “That ends today. 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.”
The FCC’s website states the vote would authorize “non-federal operation of radio frequency jamming solutions in the limited context of correctional facilities” for the purpose of jamming contraband cellphones, which have become a growing problem in facilities nationwide.
According to agency data, more than 25,000 cellphones were recovered in correctional facilities across the country in 2024 alone, with two prisons accounting for nearly half of those.
Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones says cellphones are also a problem at the Raymond Detention Center, noting detainees use them to carry out transactions, communicate with people outside, and coordinate bringing other contraband inside.
“They also record videos from jail and prisons and post them on social media,” he said. “[This] is a good tool for us to prevent things like that from happening.”
On July 3 of this year, detainees at the Hinds County Detention Center posted a video showing the beating death of 18-year-old Mielun Butler, a day after he was charged with murder in Jackson Municipal Court.
Alex Gibert, press secretary for Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said she could not comment because the case is still under investigation.
Jones confirmed a detention center officer was fired in connection with the case but said that employee did not bring in a cellphone.
The sheriff says those caught with a cellphone in jail face felony charges.
“If we get information, if we get any type of tip there is a cell phone in the facility, we will immediately address it,” he said. “We go to that inmate and do a search of that inmate and their cell [and] a large percentage of the time, we do actually recover a cell phone.”
In early 2023, Jordan Cummins, another Raymond detainee, posted a video from inside the jail after being arrested in connection with a deadly shooting near the Mississippi State Fairgrounds.
The Florence man was charged with one felony count of possession of contraband in a correctional facility in connection with the video. However, that charge was remanded to the inactive docket after he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
Cummins is currently serving his sentence at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
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