COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTV) – A bill banning the use of cell phones inside South Carolina prisons will become law on Tuesday afternoon, 14 years after the corrections officer it was named after was nearly killed.
Gov. Henry McMaster will hold a ceremonial signing for the bill, which has been called the “Captain Robert Johnson Act.”
Once the bill becomes law, it will be illegal for an inmate in custody of the SC Department of Corrections to have any telecommunication devices “unless authorized to do so.”
Legislators named cell phones, handheld radios, two-way pagers and laptops as examples of prohibited items.
A person who is found guilty of having an unauthorized device could have additional prison time added to their sentence.
Robert Johnson, the former corrections officer for whom the bill is named after, was shot in his home in March 2010 after an inmate at Lee Correctional Institute used a contraband cell phone to arrange for an ex-inmate to kill him.
Johnson was shot six times in the stomach and chest but survived, albeit with life-altering conditions.
In a 2016 testimony, Johnson said “one cell phone in the hands of a locked up gang member brought terror to my house causing me to spend months in different hospitals.”
“A contraband cell phone has caused my family and I more pain than we have ever experienced,” his testimony continued. “I am here to tell you that one cell phone is deadlier than six bullets.”
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