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cellphones

  • Top state prosecutors are urging Congress to pass legislation allowing state prisons to jam signals of cellphones smuggled to inmates. The 22 attorneys general say in a letter Wednesday to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that the devices allow prisoners to plot violence and carry out crimes. The letter cites a handful of criminal incidents the attorneys say were orchestrated by inmates using contraband cellphones, including a deadly 2018 South Carolina prison riot in which seven inmates were killed. Prosecutors want a change in a nearly century-old federal communications law that currently prevents state prisons from using jamming technology. Federal prisons can jam signals behind bars, although none do.
  • The South Carolina Senate has given key approval to a bill banning anyone from holding a cellphone while driving. The proposal faces one last routine vote before heading to the House, which has failed to pass a number of similar bills in recent years The bill allows drivers without Bluetooth to put the cellphone in a cradle and push a button to make or end a call or deal with a navigation app as long as they weren't holding the phone. Any driver could hold a phone while parked or stopped. Drivers caught holding a phone would face a $100 fine for the first offense and a $200 fine and two points on their driving record for each additional offense.