On November 26, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) in Washington, D.C., published a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“FNPRM”) entitled “Promoting Technological Solutions to Combat Contraband Wireless Device Use in Correctional Facilities” in the Federal Register (90 FR 54248; GN Docket No. 13-111). The FCC in this FNPRM is proposing rules that would enhance public safety by removing regulatory barriers to allow existing and developing technologies to combat contraband wireless device use in correctional facilities. In furtherance of this goal, the FCC in this FNPRM seeks comment on a proposed framework to authorize, for the first time, non-federal operation of radio frequency (RF) jamming solutions in correctional facilities, expanding the scope of technical options available to corrections officials facing this threat. The impetus for this FNPRM is the fact that the use of contraband cell phones in correctional facilities has reached epidemic and dangerous proportions. See News Release, Grassley Opens Hearing on Counter-Drone Authorities (May 20, 2025), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/remarks/grassley-opens-hearing-on-counter-drone-authorities (organized crime groups bombard prisons with contraband like dangerous weapons, drugs, cell phones and tools to aid escape).
This epidemic is directly related to the use of drones to deliver contraband to inmates in correctional facilities. See, e.g., Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice, Addressing Contraband in Prisons and Jails as the Threat of Drone Deliveries Grows (June 2, 2023), https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/addressing-contraband-prisons-and-jails-threat-drone-deliveries-grows.
The FNPRM established the deadline for submitting comments on or before December 26, 2025. Approximately 80 comments have been submitted by interested parties through the FCC’s comment portal (ECFS) to date. Reply comments are due on or before January 12, 2026.
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