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<\/p>\nJeremy Busby is a writer and activist incarcerated in Texas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Federal Communications Commission<\/span> this week advanced<\/a> a proposal for censorship that received far less attention than chair Brendan Carr\u2019s \u201cmafioso<\/a>\u201d approach to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>. But it will likely result in a communication crackdown that does more harm to a far more vulnerable population \u2014 denying incarcerated people one of the few tools available to expose abuse in America\u2019s most secretive institutions.<\/p>\n At a meeting on Tuesday, the FCC agreed to move forward with a proposal to allow prisons to jam contraband cellphones. Cellphone jammers are otherwise illegal<\/a> devices that disrupt cellphone signals and effectively disable phones within range of the jammer.<\/p>\n The commission was answering the call from Arkansas officials, who invited Carr to tour a state prison<\/a> where officials claimed incarcerated individuals used contraband cellphones to coordinate violent criminal activities. After the September 5 tour with the state\u2019s Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Sen. Tom Cotton, Carr announced his plans for a crackdown,<\/a> claiming, without data, that \u201cthe worst possible offenders\u201d use contraband cellphones to coordinate violence outside prison walls.<\/p>\n As a person who has been incarcerated for over 25 years, and has had extensive exposure to contraband cellphones \u2014 including using them to expose horrific conditions and force reform \u2014 I can attest that these accusations were exaggerated and preposterous.<\/p>\n While there may be isolated incidents where incarcerated individuals have used contraband cellphones to commit crimes, my experience tells me they\u2019re far more often used to connect with loved ones or to hold rogue prison officials accountable<\/a>. In my opinion, it is the latter that\u2019s driving this FCC push, not public safety.<\/p>\n Carr and Cotton doubled down<\/a> on their claims of chaos in an op-ed for the New York Post this week. It included a couple anecdotes \u2014 tragic, of course \u2014 but no evidence that contraband phones are frequently used to coordinate violence or that those responsible for the cited offenses couldn\u2019t have used other means to commit their crimes.<\/p>\n Historically, prison officials have had little trouble convincing lawmakers that crackdowns on incarcerated people\u2019s communications are needed to protect the public\u2019s safety. Like in the outside world, where officials invoke<\/a> \u201cnational security\u201d to silence their critics, the majority of these campaigns have really been about shielding prison officials from accountability.\u00a0<\/p>\n This deceptive tactic is again on display.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Contraband cellphones have<\/span> become a reliable tool for incarcerated journalists to report accurate news events and expose the harsh realities within correctional facilities.<\/p>\n This is the focus of the documentary \u201cThe Alabama Solution<\/a>,\u201d premiering October 10 on HBO. The film highlights the unchecked culture of violence and abuse of power within the Alabama Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n It shows how disturbing video footage of forced labor, drug-related violence, prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, and staff assaults were captured via contraband cellphone and released to the media. This footage fueled<\/a> a class action lawsuit against the state of Alabama over its prisons\u2019 system of slave labor as well as the ongoing<\/a> Department of Justice investigation over abuses in Alabama\u2019s prisons, including horrific assaults by corrections officers.<\/p>\n In the throes of the Covid pandemic, I used a contraband cellphone as a last-ditch effort to report Texas prison officials\u2019 alarmingly inadequate response<\/a> to the virus, which was causing the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of incarcerated individuals and staff members.\u00a0<\/p>\n That video footage was incorporated into a local ABC News documentary<\/a> called \u201cNo Way Out.\u201d That reporting embarrassed prison officials so badly it compelled them to implement and follow the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those changes could not have happened without contraband cellphones.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n