Nevada adds voice to effort to control cell phones in prisons

CARSON CITY -- State prison chief Howard Skolnik said Thursday that he's joining a national effort to get Congress to let states use signal-jamming technology to control cell phone use by convicts.

Skolnik says state lawmakers in 2007 imposed criminal penalties for bringing cell phones into prisons and giving them to inmates. But he said the ability to jam the phone signals also is needed.

"We don't always know what's inside our institutions, so the best way for us is, if these unauthorized cell phones get in, to make sure they aren't functional," Skolnik said.

Skolnik noted that Kenneth "Jody" Thompson used a cell phone smuggled into the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City to engineer his August 2005 escape in a furniture van.

Once on the outside, Thompson went on a three-month crime spree and was profiled on the TV show "America's Most Wanted."

Thompson had been serving sentences of up to 50 years for robbery, use of a deadly weapon and grand larceny when he escaped. After he was recaptured in Las Vegas in December 2005, he was sentenced to up to 50 more years for robberies he committed while on the run.

The signal-jamming plan has been challenged by phone industry officials who contend it could interfere with legitimate service and 911 calls.

Skolnik said he understands technology would allow authorized cell phones to stay in service while unauthorized ones are blocked.

Nevada is one of 26 states that have signed on to a petition sent to the Federal Communications Commission, asking regulators for permission to jam cell phone signals inside state penitentiaries. Also, prison system representatives appealed Wednesday to Congress to ensure they can control illegal cell phone use.