Contraband Cell Phones in Prisons – Why You Should Be Paying Attention

Think you are safe once a prisoner is incarcerated?

Think again.

Contraband cellular devices inside U.S. jails and prisons have become one of the most persistent security threats to facility staff, other incarcerated individuals and communities throughout the nation. Despite routine searches and thorough intake procedures, illegal cell phones still find their way into correctional facilities— and they do so in alarming numbers. Once inside, these contraband devices are used to coordinate criminal activity, contraband trade, escape attempts, corporate espionage, and external communication that threaten public safety. Avoidable tragedies unfortunately continue to occur in locations like Atlanta, Georgia, where the murder of two 13-year-old boys was ordered by a high-ranking gang member inside a state prison using an illegal cell phone.

Research estimates that as many as one in four people incarcerated possess or have access to an illegal cell phone. In a nationwide survey from the Urban Institute, 85 percent of corrections leaders said these devices directly threaten the welfare of staff, inmates, and the public. A 2020 survey of 20 state corrections departments uncovered 25,840 contraband cell phones in a single year. In a June 2025 trip to Capitol Hill, state correctional leaders cited contraband cell phones use in prison as one of the top 3 problems facing state correctional agencies. This has become a full blown domestic security crisis, according to a letter asking Congress to act decisively and pass critical legislation in 2025, led by Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti and the Attorneys General of Georgia, North Carolina, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, 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.

What is Happening Behind Bars

Smuggled cell phones, which come with a high price tag for inmates to procure, aren’t used just to innocently call home, they enable criminal activities in our communities, more commonly connected to crime and money:

• Coordinating violent or criminal acts against witnesses, rivals, or even public officials.
• Running drug rings or fraud schemes from behind bars.
• Planning riots or escapes, undermining day-to-day facility security.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice sums it up: “prisons confront an unrelenting flow of dangerous contraband—whether weapons, drugs, or cell phones—and they need better tools to keep it out.”

Why the Old Playbook Falls Short

Detection technology is here and available, but a few major hurdles have hindered implementation at correctional facilities:

1. The Funding Hurdle. Even with the regulatory pathway cleared, paying for cutting-edge detection and disconnection systems remains a major obstacle. Many state corrections budgets are already stretched thin by rising costs, aging infrastructure, and staffing shortages. Federal grant programs—while helpful—tend to be competitive, sporadic, and earmarked for broader “security upgrades,” leaving technology-centric projects under-funded. As a result, agencies often must patch together dollars from multiple sources—small state appropriations, discretionary federal grants, and private-sector partnerships—just to run pilot projects. Without a predictable funding stream, agencies hesitate to commit to multi-year service contracts or facility-wide rollouts, slowing adoption even when the technology is proven.
2. Labor-intensive searches. The traditional ways of manually sweeping cell blocks for hidden contraband consumes time and staff leaving serious gaps in security coverage – pointing to the serious concerns of today.
3. Legal red tape. Until recently, disabling an identified contraband cell phone required a judge to issue a court order for the carrier, a slow and resource-heavy process. However, that all shifted with the Federal Communications Commission’s 2021 (FCC-21-82A1) rule-making change that created a fast-track for neutralizing illicit devices, including: 1.) carrier shut-offs without court orders, provided strict safeguards are met; 2.) mandatory use of FCC-certified hardware; 3.) formal FCC approval of each solution provider’s application; 4.) self-certification testing at every deployment site to prove the system works as designed.

The new FCC guidelines opened the door for innovation and integrated systems—ones that detect, identify, and deactivate contraband cell phones in a single, streamlined workflow.

SOC’s latest platform, SignalSecure, was purpose-built around this revised FCC framework. By pairing certified sensors with an automated carrier notification pipeline, the solution can locate a device inside the facility and request its disconnection in minutes, not days. Early pilots confirmed these measurable gains:

• Faster interdiction: real-time alerts replace periodic manual sweeps.
• Reduced administrative burden: no more court-order paperwork.
• Lower operational cost: less staff involvement or time spent on phone hunts.

Looking Ahead

Contraband cell phones are unlikely to disappear overnight—and criminals involved in these crime rings will continually adapt. But the FCC regulatory overhaul, combined with next-generation detection technology, provide corrections officials a far more effective arsenal to combat it. As more facilities adopt FCC-compliant systems like SOC’s SignalSecure, the balance can finally tilt toward safer prisons, safer staff, and a protected public better shielded from crimes orchestrated behind bars.