Haley, GOP governors ask FCC to address prison cellphones
Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2016
- South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley talks to inmates at Manning Correctional institution Monday, April 25, 2016, in Columbia, S.C., who are scheduled to be released. Haley told prisoners Monday a better life beyond the barbed-wire fencing starts with a legal job, and it's her job to help them find one. (AP Photo/Seanna Adcox)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Gov. Nikki Haley is among 10 Republican governors urging the head of the Federal Communications Commission to give states more autonomy in fighting the issue of cellphone that inmates have illegally in prison.
Haley on Monday wrote to FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler encouraging him to give states “flexibility and authority” to deal with the issue, universally seen as a security threat.
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States need FCC permission to block cell signals, and Haley has been vocal in her opposition to required FCC approval. Testifying last month at an FCC field hearing in Columbia, Haley said the state had tried multiple other methods, but none are as effective as blocking.
The letter was also signed by governors from Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.
