cellphones

In 2025, South Carolina implemented a statewide ban on cellphone use in classrooms. Nationwide, early results are mixed. Some schools report fewer disruptions, more engagement, and small gains in academic performance, and teachers describe calmer classrooms and more attention.

Aug. 14, 2024

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.