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VietnameseGriffin: ‘This is a major step in the right direction for keeping citizens and corrections personnel safe’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement after co-leading a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in support of the FCC’s proposal that would allow prisons to utilize jamming technology to address the use of contraband cell phones in correctional facilities. The letter was co-led by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and signed by 21 other attorneys general.
“The problem of contraband cell phones in prisons is not new, and these devices are consistently used to orchestrate crimes both inside and outside the prison walls. The Federal Communications Commission’s new proposal will allow correctional facilities to utilize jamming technology to combat this critical public safety issue.
“I am grateful to the other attorneys general who signed on to this letter and added their support. As top law enforcement officials in our states, we each recognize the importance of the adoption of this rule, which will undoubtedly serve to protect citizens across the United States.
“The Arkansas Department of Corrections identified 230 gang leaders incarcerated in maximum security facilities who were caught and found guilty of multiple charges of possession of a cell phone in over 538 individual instances. These 230 inmates were from known threat groups including Bloods, Crips, Aryan Circle, and White Aryan Resistance, along with the largest group Gangster Disciples. Further investigations showed evidence of these leaders conducting illegal activities on the contraband cell phones, including drug trafficking, drone drops into the facilities, witness intimidation, and coordinating the movement of money and other gang activities throughout Arkansas and the United States.
“Other states are replete with their own examples. Inmates use these contraband cell phones to conduct and coordinate violent crimes, including murder, child sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, kidnapping, aggravated battery of law enforcement officers, and other crimes such as money laundering, wire fraud, and identity theft. We commend the FCC for taking action to help address the critical threat to public safety caused by contraband cell phones. This is a major step in the right direction for keeping citizens and corrections personnel safe.”
Joining Attorney Generals Griffin and Carr on the letter were the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
To read a copy of the letter, click here.
To download a copy 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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