In October of this year, law enforcement agencies in South Carolina dismantled a massive dogfighting ring in Easley, seizing drugs and firearms, and charging 25 individuals for allegedly plotting criminal activities using smuggled cellphones within state prisons.
Despite strict prohibitions against phone possession in prisons, thousands of mobile devices have somehow managed to bypass prison walls and land in the hands of inmates. Federal prison authorities have the capability to employ jamming technology to prevent inmates from using unauthorized mobile phones. However, the Federal Communications Act of 1934 prohibits state and local law enforcement from utilizing similar methods to curb cellphone usage in correctional facilities.
Alan Wilson, the incoming governor of South Carolina and a Republican, has indicated that this situation may change soon.
“There are people in prison who assist in drug trafficking,” stated Wilson, who was serving as the state’s attorney general at the time, in an exclusive interview. “They help gangs carry out assassinations, and they have become millionaires by profiting within the prison system.”
Wilson has allied with a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general to persuade the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to amend regulations so that states are granted greater autonomy in addressing the cellphone issue within prisons.
“If we could jam mobile phone signals like the federal government can, we could render those devices useless,” Wilson commented.
This endeavor requires changes in legislative wording, which he describes as a minor adjustment: “We only need to add a few words to the existing regulations.” A coalition of state officials has been advocating for this amendment for a decade.
“For ten years, we have been trying to convince them to allow state prisons to operate this way,” Wilson lamented, “but the telecommunications industry has a powerful lobbying group.”
During an interview with media representatives on October 22, while discussing the matter, Wilson received a call from FBI Director Kash Patel, prompting him to suggest that progress may be on the horizon soon.
The FCC did not respond to requests for comments from the media.
On October 28, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency would hold a vote for the first time on permitting state and local prisons to jam cellphone signals. The voting session will take place during the FCC’s meeting on November 19.
This rule change will allow—but not mandate—prisons to employ signal jamming technology. The FCC has noted the pervasiveness of cellphone issues in prisons, stating that “thousands of contraband phones” are in use across facilities nationwide.
Wilson praised Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin for taking a leading role in pushing for the legal changes.
Griffin described the upcoming vote as “a significant step towards empowering correctional facilities to close down these illegal communications and ensure community safety.”
Carr pointed out the increasing instances of inmates using illegal phones to produce child sexual abuse materials and commit other crimes.
“While the FCC has approved a range of solutions in the past, it has never allowed the use of jamming measures. That changes today,” Carr declared in a statement.
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas is also working to integrate this regulatory change into law through his Cellphone Jamming Reform Act.
A 2024 study by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington D.C., found that over a year, prison systems in 20 states confiscated more than 25,000 mobile phones. Based on data from 2020, the study revealed that some states were more severely impacted by this issue than others, with certain states reporting fewer than 20 confiscated phones, while others documented over 6,000.
Should the FCC approve this change, it will require extensive testing to ensure that interference is controlled and does not affect the general public. The proposal indicates that protocols for operation will help mitigate risks.
In a previous organized crime investigation aptly titled Operation Duffle Bag Boyz, 25 defendants faced a total of 129 charges, including five South Carolina inmates. This investigation uncovered a large-scale criminal operation involving drug trafficking, dogfighting, and illegal possession of firearms. The operation was announced by Wilson’s office on October 21.
Investigators seized nearly 3 pounds of fentanyl, another 4 pounds of suspected deadly opioids (still under testing), and 10,000 fentanyl pills. Additionally, they confiscated nearly 7 pounds of methamphetamine and over 1 pound of cocaine.
Wilson highlighted that these drugs contained fentanyl, emphasizing that just 2.5 milligrams of fentanyl—approximately the size of a few grains of salt—can be lethal. “This is a significant matter,” he stated. “I believe that by preventing these pills from reaching the streets, many lives have been saved.”
Joel Anderson, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, expressed that these arrests underscore the urgent need to permit state prisons to jam illegal cellphone signals to prevent inmates from committing crimes using unauthorized mobile devices.
Law enforcement also dismantled a dogfighting operation, rescuing 47 dogs during the operation, which involved the seizure of more than 30 firearms. Defendants face multiple charges, including drug trafficking, dogfighting, and illegal firearm possession. Some may face up to 40 years in prison for drug trafficking alone.
Wilson revealed that these crimes, conducted in collaboration with individuals from the outside, were aided by members still operating from within the prisons.
Last year, a grand jury in South Carolina released a report calling on the federal government to take action, specifically highlighting how organized crime exploits contraband cellphones to direct criminal activities from prison.
Shortly before the report was issued, Darrell McCoy and Matthew McCoy, brothers who commanded large-scale methamphetamine trafficking within state prisons, were convicted; under their direction, over 630 kilograms of methamphetamine were smuggled into the state over two years.
In 2013, Osvaldo Albarati, a federal prison officer, was shot and killed while returning home from work at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
In August 2026, Albarati’s widow, Helen Albarati, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, urging the passage of a bipartisan bill to combat contraband cellphones.
“My husband was always intercepting illegal phones because inmates were using these phones to manipulate drug gangs and orchestrate criminal activities from within,” Helen Albarati stated.
The directive to kill him came from inside the Guaynabo prison and was placed by an inmate using a phone smuggled into the facility.
In another case involving organized crime and cellphones, a meth trafficking ring controlled by inmates in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections led to the conviction of 27 individuals last year. In recent years, numerous law enforcement agencies have reported multiple convictions related to gang-related crimes such as kidnappings, murders, and fraud facilitated by illegal cellphone use.
Wilson emphasized the long-standing issue’s impact on national security and commended the FCC’s recent announcement.
“We have made some real progress,” he remarked.
In the South Carolina gubernatorial election, Wilson secured victory by over four percentage points against Democratic candidate Jermaine Johnson.
A colonel in the South Carolina Army National Guard with 30 years of operational experience, Wilson is poised to be promoted to brigadier general. He hopes to leverage his accrued skills to govern the state effectively.
“I have commanded soldiers in hostile environments,” he stated, highlighting his readiness to serve as the adjutant general of the state’s National Guard.
“From an emergency preparedness standpoint, I have responded to dozens of natural disaster events.”
Wilson was first elected as South Carolina’s attorney general in 2010. During his tenure, he oversaw the recovery of nearly $2 billion in fraud and corruption funds, defended the state’s voter identification laws, upheld immigration laws, and advanced several key initiatives.
As governor, he plans to reduce the tax burden of the “Palmetto State,” including implementing a multi-year initiative to gradually reduce income taxes for residents and businesses to attract investments and boost economic activity.
“What I want to do is make us more competitive,” Wilson stated.
“I want to challenge the status quo.… We will not do things just because that’s how they’ve always been done. I do not plan to be a caretaker governor; I intend to be a transformational governor.”
At 53 years old, Wilson lost his father at a young age. His father, Michael Alan McCrory, a paratrooper in the infantry, was a Vietnam War veteran who tragically died in a helicopter crash during a training exercise in 1975.
In 1977, Wilson’s mother, Roxanne, remarried Joe Wilson, a Republican who later became a U.S. Congressman. Joe Wilson has served in Congress since 2001 and has treated Wilson as his own. This incoming governor credits some of his success to the love of his stepfather.
“As a child, my dad would come in and listen to my prayers,” Wilson reminisced. “He always told me, ‘Alan, there are many kids in the world who do not have a dad who loves them. You know what? You are very fortunate because God has given you two fathers who love you wholeheartedly.’”
He vowed to lead the state with a heart of compassion.
“I want to be a governor who can unite people and work towards maximizing the welfare of as many people as possible within our state.”