In early August, the Senate Commerce Committee approved S. 251, the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009, a bill that would allow cellphone jamming equipment in federal prisons. Prisons would have to obtain waivers of the FCC’s rules that generally prohibit all use of such equipment. Under recent amendments to the legislation, wireless services providers and public safety agencies would have access to a database tracking the status all waiver requests. Shortly after the bill was approved in committee, 20 governors sent a letter to Congress voicing support for the bill.