Arkansas lawmaker proposes $1 million pilot program to shut down contraband prison cell phones

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - An Arkansas lawmaker says too many criminals are still running criminal operations even after they’re locked up, and he wants to cut off their access to illegal phones inside prison walls.

Arkansas House Bill 1079 would create a two-year pilot program using intelligence software to find and shut down contraband cell phones at two of Arkansas’s largest correctional facilities, Cummins and Varner units.

State Representative Dwight Tosh says those illegal phones have become a serious problem, letting inmates stay connected to crime on the outside.

“I mean, they’re allowing these inmates to pretty well continue to run organized crime. Racketeering, fraud, drug trafficking, all types of human trafficking,” Tosh said.

Tosh is looking to Georgia as proof that the technology works.

“Georgia implemented this same system about a year ago and they’ve already confiscated over approximately 12,000 illegal phones inside the system,” Tosh said.

The bill passed the joint budget committee on Tuesday, April 14.

Tosh says lawmakers now have to find $1 million to fund the pilot, possibly through the governor’s office or the attorney general.

If the two-year program shows results, Tosh says there’s already strong interest in expanding it to every correctional facility in the state.

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