U.S. Senators from Idaho, Jim Risch (R) and Mike Crapo (R), recently joined Senator Tom Cotton (R) of Arkansas in introducing The Cellphone Jamming Reform Act. The newly formed legislation aims to allow state and federal prisons to effectively "jam" communications on inmate cellular devices. The republican senators claim that inmates convicted of criminal offenses often use cellphones to extend their nefarious influence beyond prison walls. They claim that their legislation would allow state and federal prison systems to effectively combat that trend by lifting any future prohibition on cellphone jamming geared towards incarcerated individuals. RELATED: Inmate at center of Idaho prison escape pleads guilty to drug chargesWe must pass this commonsense fix to cut off [prisoners'] ability to further their crimes behind bars and protect the citizens of our communities, said Crapo in a joint statement regarding the bill. In that same statement, Tom Cotton added that contraband cellphones are a "major security threat" that have gone unchecked in U.S. prisons for "far too long." He went on to reference instances where criminals have used cellphones "to threaten witnesses, organize drug trafficking [operations], and endanger law-abiding citizens from within prison walls."The Senators from Idaho pointed out how cellphones played an instrumental role in the 2024 prison escape of Skylar Meade, which resulted in three Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) officers being shot. ...read more read less