COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Barred from using the jamming technology he feels would solve the security threat of inmate cellphone use, South Carolina's prisons director said Wednesday that he has been enlisting help from law enforcement agencies across the state to help combat the issue from outside prison fences.

Corrections Director Bryan Stirling told reporters that he has been working with Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott over the past year, paying some of Lott's deputies to patrol woods near a maximum-security prison in Columbia. In addition to being on the lookout for any criminal activity in...