Politics · Brazil · 3 hrs ago
Brazil launches system to block phones in prisons without court orders
Brazil has launched a national program to block mobile phone use in prisons without requiring a court order.
The program brings together the federal government, states, the Federal District and Brazil’s telecom regulator, Anatel.
Prison authorities will identify phones and send technical details to the Justice Ministry, which will pass them to Anatel for action.
The system can block identified devices and interrupt radio signals within designated security areas around prisons.
The change aims to make it easier to stop illegal communications, which authorities say can support organized crime.
In an operation in early October, officials seized 598 phones across 107 prisons, and police said court orders had made it difficult to block every device found.
Anatel will carry out the blocks after receiving the information, under the new program.
Brazil’s federal government has launched a program to block mobile phones and radio signals in prisons without requiring a court order.
The program was published on Tuesday, October 13, and sets out cooperation between the federal government, states, the Federal District and Anatel.
State prison administrations will identify phones and send technical information to the Justice Ministry, after which Anatel will take steps to block them.
The decree also allows radio signals to be interrupted within security zones around prisons.
The government says the measures are intended to help combat organized crime.
- Who
- Brazil’s federal government, state prison administrations, the Justice Ministry and Anatel.
- What
- A program to block identified mobile phones and interrupt radio signals in security zones around prisons, without a court order.
- When
- Published Tuesday, October 13, 2026.
- Where
- Prisons across Brazil and security zones around them.
- Why
- To combat organized crime.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
A Justice Ministry operation called Mute seized 598 phones in prisons across Brazil.
The federal government published the program for blocking phones and radio signals in prisons without a court order.
- Phones seized
- 598 in the Mute operation
- Prisons reached
- 107 in the Mute operation
- Police mobilized
- 4,212 prison officers
- Cells searched
- 3,604
- People held in participating prisons
- More than 88,000
Sources
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