The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed it will hold a vote next month on whether to allow state and federal prisons and jails to jam contraband cellphones.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced this week that the vote will take place as part of efforts to clamp down on cell phone usage in US prisons.

In the regulator's announcement, the FCC said that thousands of contraband cellphones are being used inside the prisons, noting that such connectivity is enabling inmates to use them to "call in hits, coordinate violent gang activity, abuse young children, and aid criminal enterprises."

The FCC will vote on the order during its November 19th Open Meeting, and it would adopt rules that allow, but do not require, state and local correctional facilities to jam contraband cellphones.

Citing statistics from 2024, the FCC said that prison authorities recovered more than 25,000 cell phones in one year alone, while two of the participating facilities reported recovering more than 6,000 cell phones each.

In terms of how jamming would be utilized, the FCC said it would only occur within a Commission-authorized “jamming containment area” where wireless device operation is prohibited, and it must not cause harmful interference outside that area.

The FCC added that mobile carriers, FirstNet, public safety coordinators, and 911 authorities would receive "advance notice of the on-site testing, and nearby communities would receive notice before deployment."

“For years, thousands upon thousands of contraband cellphones 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," said Carr.

"While the FCC has authorized a range of solutions in the past, it has stopped short of allowing jamming. 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, for the first time."