Australia prohibits the ownership and use of mobile phone jammers. This is due to their potential to disrupt mobile communications, which can prevent individuals from making calls, including urgent calls to emergency services.

Yet, there exist legitimate scenarios for the use of mobile phone jammers that call for exemptions.

We are actively working alongside Corrective Services NSW to investigate the application of mobile phone jammers in correctional institutions.

Mobile phone jammers in prisons

Those incarcerated in prisons are restricted from owning mobile phones.

Officers within the prison system can activate mobile phone jammers to inhibit the signals of any mobile phones that may be secretly introduced by inmates.

The use of mobile phone jammers in correctional institutions might cause disturbances to the mobile phone networks in the surrounding environment.

In conjunction with Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW), we strive to ensure that the application of jammers does not interfere with lawful mobile phone communication.

Use of jammers by CSNSW

Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) has been granted permission to use mobile phone jammers at the Lithgow and Goulburn Correctional Centres, as outlined in the Radiocommunications (Exemptions - Corrective Services NSW) Decision 2021.

This exemption arises from the mobile phone jammer trials that CNSW conducted at Lithgow Correctional Facility from 2013 to 2018 and at Goulburn Correctional Facility from 2019 to 2021.

Through the trials conducted by CSNSW, prisoners at Lithgow and Goulburn Correctional Centres were effectively prevented from the unauthorized use of mobile phones, without causing any disruption to mobile phone users outside the facilities.