"This bill protects citizens. It provides another means to stop the use of illegal cell phones by allowing prison on a case-by-case basis to use cell jammers. It will help make our neighborhoods safe and give prisons another necessary tool they need," said Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, who co-sponsored the bill.

Maryland inmate Patrick Albert Byers Jr. used a contraband phone to have a prosecution witness killed in 2007.

You might be surprised at how often prisoners get their hands on cell phones. In 2008, 2,809 were confiscated in California, 1,861 in Mississippi, and 847 in Maryland.

The bill still needs to pass the House of Representatives. If it does, it will require the FCC to designate rules and conduct field tests to block phones in prison while not interfering with outside signals. If a prison’s jammer interferes with outside service, it will be deactivated until the FCC corrects the problem.