Arkansas’ junior Republican U.S. senator is proposing legislation to jam cell phone signals in state and federal prisons. Sen. Tom Cotton held a news conference last week in Washington, D.C., to announce the legislation. Cotton said rendering illicit cell phones useless to prison inmates would help cut down on escapes, violence against corrections staff, and the drug trade.
Cotton said state officials would have discretion over how jamming technology is used in prisons. He said the technology allows signal jamming in targeted areas, like individual prison housing units. The bill, called the Cellphone Jamming Reform Act of 2025, is being sponsored in the House by Republican Tennessee Congressman David Kustoff. Cotton first introduced similar legislation in 2023, which ultimately didn’t get a hearing in Congress.
