Attorney General Griffin Joins Senator Cotton, FCC Chairman Carr to Announce Vote on Prison Cellphone Jamming Rules

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim joined U.S. Senator Tom Cotton and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr today to announce that the FCC will vote next month on final rules that would allow correctional facilities to jam contraband cellphones. Following the announcement, Attorney General Griffin issued the following statement:

“Contraband cellphones allow dangerous prisoners to continue their criminal activities from behind bars, putting correctional officers and the public at risk. These devices have been used to coordinate violent attacks, manage criminal enterprises, and exploit children. We must give correctional facilities the tools they need to stop this activity.

“I was pleased to join Chairman Carr, Senator Cotton, and law enforcement officials today for a roundtable discussion on this serious public safety threat. I am grateful for Chairman Carr’s and Senator Cotton’s continued leadership on this issue. The FCC’s upcoming vote represents an important step toward giving correctional facilities the ability to shut down these illegal communications and keep our communities safe.”

The proposed rules, which will be circulated to FCC Commissioners today and voted on during the agency’s November 19 Open Meeting, would allow, but not require, state and local correctional facilities to use cellphone jamming technology to combat contraband devices.

In September 2025, Griffin joined Cotton, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Carr to announce the FCC’s plan to allow prisons to combat contraband cellphones. Later that month, Griffin led 23-states in a letter urging the FCC to allow cellphone jamming in correctional facilities.

Thousands of contraband cellphones have made their way into prisons across the country, where inmates have used them to order killings, coordinate violent gang activity, exploit children, and facilitate criminal enterprises.

If adopted, the rules would provide correctional facilities with a new tool to prevent inmates from using contraband cellphones to continue criminal activity behind bars.

Chairman Carr issued the following statement:

“President Trump has put restoring law and order and ensuring the safety of law-abiding Americans at the top of his agenda. For years, thousands upon thousands of contraband cellphones have been pouring into prisons, and some of the worst possible offenders have been using them to order hits, coordinate violent gang activity, and aid criminal enterprises. Recently, there has been an increase in inmates using these devices to target and victimize young girls, including the creation of CSAM. While the FCC has authorized a range of solutions in the past, it has stopped short of allowing jamming. That ends today. We’re taking an aggressive, but responsible approach to empower those on the front lines to utilize all the options available to them, including jamming, for the first time.

“This is a clear win for the American people. I would like to thank the leadership of the great state of Arkansas for hosting us again today and for the leadership you have shown in working to eliminate this pressing threat to public safety. No correctional institution will be required to use jamming, and this will not be the right solution for every facility. But the FCC will vote next month to allow state and local prisons and jails to use this technology in appropriate cases.”

Senator Cotton issued the following statement:

“Contraband cellphones threaten everyone from law-abiding Arkansans to law enforcement officers. I commend Chairman Carr for taking an important step to jam these dangerous devices, and I urge Congress to pass my Cellphone Jamming Reform Act to codify this effort.”

To download a PDF of this release, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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