Behind bars, inmate coordinated chilling hit on unsuspecting mother

In a chilling case that highlights the grave security risks of illegal prison cell phones, a South Carolina inmate used a smuggled mobile device to orchestrate a hit on a woman's life from behind bars. The foiled murder plot has reignited calls for prison cell phone jamming technology to crack down on such threats.

York County Solicitor Kevin Brackett is advocating for jamming capabilities after the inmate, Preston Hicks, used a contraband phone to hire a hitman named Jerry Kinard to kill Amaiya Givens' romantic rival out of jealousy. Kinard forced his way into the woman's Fort Mill apartment in 2021 by stealing her mail to trick her into opening the door. Once inside, he assaulted the victim, but she narrowly escaped with her baby.

"He managed to steal mail from her mailbox and came and said, 'I received your mail; I want to get it back to you,'" recalled Fort Mill Police Chief Bryan Zachary. "She opened the door, and he made his way in."

The victim's neighbor, Robert Munn, was appalled that an inmate could coordinate such a brazen attack with illicit prison communications. "They don't need to be talking on their cell phone, making it easy on them," he said.

Brackett argues that jamming cell signals is the straightforward solution to preventing inmates from using contraband phones to facilitate crimes from inside the walls. However, an antiquated 1934 federal law prohibits any disruption of radio signals, including cell service - a technology that did not exist when the statute was enacted.

"The law that prevents prisons from jamming cell phones dates back to 1934. There were no cell phones in 1934," Brackett stated. "It's very serious, and it's very easily solved."

While South Carolina recently stiffened penalties for illegal prison cell phone use, the solicitor believes jamming is the best answer. However, it requires Congressional action to update the obsolete communications law.

The rapid proliferation of contraband phones in U.S. prisons and jails represents a mushrooming security crisis. In 2022, officials seized over 24,000 illegal mobile devices from federal inmates - more than double the prior year's totals. From coordinating gang activity and drug trafficking operations to amplifying extremist ideologies and even live-streaming from cells, inmates have exploited unfettered wireless communication abilities that subvert institutional control.

Criminal organizations frequently use contraband phones to orchestrate illicit operations spanning both sides of the prison walls. The technology allows gang leaders to continuously relay commands, collect payments, coordinate violence, and monitor operations while incarcerated. This perpetuates cycles of crime and prevents inmate rehabilitation.

Recognizing these pervasive threats, several states have installed cell phone detection and jamming systems within prison perimeters, though the federal prohibition renders comprehensive jamming illegal. Some individual corrections facilities have instead resorted to using portable jammers intermittently to surgically disrupt unauthorized calls when detected.

In addition to jamming, prison security experts highlight other emerging inmate communication monitoring and interdiction technologies, such as body scanners, surveillance drones, and network access control systems, to combat contraband phones. However, budgetary limitations and bureaucratic inertia have hindered the widespread adoption of these potential solutions across the nation's prisons and jails.

While stamping out security vulnerabilities is paramount, human rights advocates argue severing all communication poses ethical dilemmas by hampering inmates' access to families, legal counsel, and rehabilitative resources crucial for reducing recidivism upon release.

For now, the nation's corrections facilities find themselves trapped between the escalating risks posed by contraband phones and policies crafted long before wireless technologies existed - like the statute prohibiting signal jamming. As the York County solicitor's harrowing case reveals, the dangers are real and potentially deadly - a murdered woman has narrowly averted thanks to her resilience against a hit sanctioned through illicit prison communications.  

The rapid evolution of wireless technologies combined with their clandestine misuse within custodial environments necessitates a comprehensive overhaul of prison security practices originally crafted for an analog era. While cell phone jamming directly disrupts unauthorized inmate voice and data communications, a multi-layered approach balanced against ethical obligations will likely be required.

Policymakers must embrace specialized technologies, techniques, and legislation tailored to current and future threats - a difficult but imperative mission when American lives are endangered by inmates' unfettered access to contraband mobile devices. The haunting South Carolina case underscores why fortifying prison communication security through all available innovations must become an urgent national priority. Failing to adapt allows those confined to prisons to paradoxically extend their criminal reach into communities.