Cellphone aided prisoner in Boise hospital ambush. Idaho’s senators take aim at problem

Housed in solitary confinement in the state’s maximum security prison, Skylar Meade texted his co-conspirator Nicholas Umphenour about their plans to free the then-31-year-old from custody. The men messaged back and forth about how they’d secure money and ammunition, and detailed which of the guards would be carrying weapons.

Those plans were at least partly possible because Meade had access to a contraband cellphone.

Now, Idaho’s two senators, alongside other U.S. lawmakers, have introduced legislation to allow correctional facilities, both locally and federally, to utilize cellphone jamming systems to prevent incarcerated people from using cellphones should they be able to obtain them.

“Idaho has seen firsthand the grave danger contraband cellphones pose to the public, correctional officers, and inmates,” Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in a news release, referring to the escape at Saint Alphonsus hospital in Boise that left three correctional officers injured.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, joined Risch and Republican senators from eight other states in introducing the measure to combat the use of cellphones by those who are incarcerated.

In March 2024, Meade and Umphenour ambushed officers at Saint Al’s in a coordinated plan to free Meade, who was serving a minimum 10-year sentence and was taken to the hospital for treatment of self-inflicted injuries. Umphenour shot two of the guards during the escape, while a third was accidentally shot by a Boise police officer.

The pair led law enforcement on a 36-hour manhunt before they were apprehended in Twin Falls. They are now linked to two North Idaho homicides — one in Nez Perce County and another in Clearwater County — that happened in that window of time, according to Idaho State Police.

Immediately after the escape, the Idaho Department of Correction implemented changes, and pushed for additional funding this legislative session to address concerns. This included a request to add mail-scanning technology that would divert prisoners’ mail to an offsite location where it would be opened, scanned and sent to the residents digitally.

“It doesn’t take the attempts to introduce contraband off the table, but it allows us to plug one hole and redeploy resources elsewhere,” soon-to-be-exiting Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee during a presentation in February.

Spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic, in a statement to the Idaho Statesman, expressed the Idaho Department of Correction’s gratitude for the senators’ support of “common-sense legislation,” adding that the bill complements their budget request to invest in interdiction technologies to combat contraband. Lawmakers approved IDOC’s request this week, Kuzeta-Cerimagic said.

“Contraband cellphones have no place in correctional facilities,” she said.

Tewalt attends press conference in Washington, D.C.

It’s illegal in the United States to use technology to block calls, and the Federal Communications Commission said in 2010 that jamming technology “causes more problems than it solves,” and raised concerns over the technology interfering with law enforcement and first responders.

But in recent years, the FCC has approved Contraband Interdiction Systems for some prisons. The technology can capture and drop calls from specific devices, instead of blocking all cellphones.

The introduced legislation coincided with a letter sent by 31 attorneys general, both Republicans and Democrats, asking House and Senate leaders to support the new bill, which they said would address “one of the most critical threats to our correctional system and public safety.”

Contraband cellphones remain a severe and continuing problem within prisons, according to the letter signed by dozens of AG’s, despite intensive security measures and efforts from corrections officials.

“These aren’t merely communication devices — they are tools that enable incarcerated individuals to conspire and commit crimes that grievously wound our people and our communities,” they wrote.

Several lawmakers and state corrections leaders — including Tewalt — introduced the bill Wednesday at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told reporters at the U.S. Capitol that the jamming equipment wouldn’t interfere with law enforcement or other first responders. He said state officials would have “full discretion” as to where and how the equipment would be used in their prisons.

“Within prison walls, contraband cellphones are dangerous weapons,” Cotton said. “For too long we’ve turned a blind eye to this glaring public safety threat as crimes are planned, facilitated and ordered by convicted criminals — already serving a prison sentence.”

“No more,” he added.

‘Wreaks havoc inside of a prison:’ Drones, mail and staff introduce contraband

Tewalt raised concerns last summer over the use of drones to drop drugs and cellphones into the state’s prisons. He told the Statesman at the time that prison officials suspect there has been at least one attempt to introduce contraband with a drone at the main complex south of Boise.

“Even though we don’t have a significant history of drone drops or drones being used that we can confirm to bring in contraband, we know it’s only a matter of time,” Tewalt said in an interview.

In February, Tewalt said the prisons had now seen two drone drops in just the past month.

Idaho Maximum Security Institution Deputy Warden Collin Young told the Statesman in 2024 that they increased their entry protocols, making sure that everyone who comes into the prison goes through a metal detector. He added that since then they’ve seen more contraband come through the mail.

“We’ve stepped up our safety and security measures because — it’s very unfortunate — but we’ve had staff introduce contraband, as well as contraband being introduced through the mail, and that wreaks havoc inside of a prison,” Young said.

Tewalt added that his staff confiscated more cellphones in 2024 than in the entirety of his 13 years with the agency. Throughout the country, contraband phones have been used to order hits on people outside of prison, run illegal drug operations and facilitate sex trafficking, according to the news release.

Prisoners will pay thousands of dollars to purchase contraband cellphones, which can be used for illegal matters like drug deals, but they’ve also been used in more novel ways, like offering education opportunities or communicating with loved ones, according to the Marshall Project.

“While in prison, criminals should not be able to communicate with the outside world and continue the criminal actions that landed them there in the first place,” Crapo said in the release. “We must pass this commonsense fix to cut off their ability to further their crimes behind bars and protect the citizens of our communities.”

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office and the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether they support the proposed legislation. But Ada County Deputy Lauren Montague, the agency’s spokesperson, told the Statesman that they don’t have an issue with cellphones, pointing to a $104,750 body scanner the jail purchased in 2019 that she said has “been effective at combating contraband.”