Industry News
Prisons to install cellphone jammers
Saudi prisons to install cellphone jammersThe Saudi General Directorate of Prisons intends to install cellphone jammers inside cells and prison facilities to prevent prisoners from receiving and making calls, Makkah daily reported.
Head of Prisons Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Al-Hamsy said the directorate tried various methods to prevent prisoners from using their mobile phones, but none of them worked.
“Although most prisoners follow the rules and do not make any phone calls through their cellphones, installing a cellphone jammer device will finally ensure that absolutely no one can make a call through their mobiles,” said Al-Hamsy.
The directorate’s General Manager of Information Technology and Communication Lt. Col. Nasser Al-Amer said: “We are currently giving a trial to two companies, a German one and an American one, to install reception blocking devices.
“Previous devices failed due to its technical specifications. “The devices required communication towers to send signals to but this would block the reception for other people living in the neighborhood and not just the prisoners.”
Al-Amer added that the latest devices only affect the prisons they are installed in and do not pose any health risks to prisoners.
“The directorate never installs any new device unless it has been internationally accredited and certified as safe to use by several organizations.
“The directorate was actually waiting for a safe device to use and that is why it has taken years to implement this system.
“Moreover, every location exists in a different environment and one device does not fit all.”
Meanwhile, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology is currently developing a device that will block mobile reception in several locations where phone calls are not allowed, such as prisons and mosques.
