Attorney General Griffin Joins Senator Cotton in Washington to Support Cellphone Jamming Reform Act

Griffin: ‘This legislation will help us in the fight against crime within prisons and will protect our state’s correctional employees, other inmates, and members of the public.’

LITTLE ROCK – During a press conference in Washington D.C. today, Attorney General Tim Griffin announced his support of the Cell Phone Jamming Reform Act introduced by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Congressman David Kustoff (R-TN):

“Examples of violent criminals using contraband cell phones in Arkansas prisons include:

• Samuel Hartman whose escape from the Arkansas Department of Corrections was like something out of a movie. Hartman planned his escape using a contraband cellphone and involved his wife and mother picking him up in a bulletproof vehicle where they traveled to a nearby boat ramp and used jet skis to flee.
• Antwon Simmons orchestrated a takeover of a maximum-security unit in an Arkansas prison via a contraband cellphone.
• On at least two occasions, contraband cellphones contained Child Sexual Abuse Materials in Arkansas prisons.
• Prisoners used a contraband cellphone to extort money from a mother outside of the prison by threatening to kill her son.

“Contraband cellphones are widely used in federal and state prisons, enabling inmates to engage in illegal activities such as ordering hits, running drug operations, facilitating sex trafficking, and organizing escapes. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has failed to grant states the authority to jam these devices. The Cellphone Jamming Reform Act seeks to address this issue by explicitly allowing states to implement jamming systems inside correctional facilities.

“This legislation will help us in the fight against crime within prisons and will protect our state’s correctional employees, other inmates, and members of the public.

“Here’s the bottom line: We know what the problem is. We know how to fix it. It’s about time we get this done.”

Congress should act now to allow state and federal correctional facilities to utilize jamming equipment. Currently, federal prisons are not authorized to use cellphone jamming technology due to restrictions under the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits non-federal entities from interfering with radio signals.

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.

###