Crackdown to curb use of mobiles in prisons

SCOTTISH prisons will be fitted with signal blockers in a bid to stop inmates using their mobile phones.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson will today outline plans for a crackdown on the illegal use of phones in Scotland’s jails over fears criminals could be using them to plan crimes both inside and outside prison.

He is set to unveil the Telecommunications Restrictions Orders (Custodial Institutions) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 when he appears at Holyrood’s justice committee.

This will strengthen action against the use of mobile phones, including the use of network technology to block active phones within prisons and permit court orders to remove phones from networks entirely.

Ministers have proposed the crackdown following an increase in the number of mobile phones in jails.

Having phones in prison is a criminal offence but hundreds are found every year. It is thought the new equipment will cost up to £1million to install and ministers have accepted it would be of no use in open prisons, where inmates could make calls from outside.

Mr Matheson is expected to give evidence today outlining the Government’s plans for stepping up action against those using mobile phones illegally in prisons.

Yesterday, he said the unauthorised use of mobile phones in jails ‘potentially presents a serious threat to the security of prisons and the wider public’, adding: ‘The Scottish Government has already made changes to the law to create offences for the possession and introduction of mobile phones or their component parts to prisons and to allow interference with networks within two prisons to disrupt phone use.

‘These regulations will further support our commitment to reducing the harm caused by illegal activity within our prisons.

‘The irresponsible and illegal use of phones also causes offence to victims of crime and we are taking steps to reduce their use.’

The new blocking systems would mean prison chiefs can cut off phones without having to physically find illegally held mobiles.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘We welcome these proposals to deal with convicted criminals accessing illegal mobile phones within prisons.

‘It is entirely appropriate that technology is being harnessed to protect prisoners and ensure illegal mobile phones are not continuing to infiltrate our prison system.’

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: ‘The regulations before the Scottish parliament are the latest in a series of legislative measures to disrupt illicit mobile phone use in prisons.

‘They will allow a court to order a communication service provider to disable a mobile phone, thus rendering it not only useless but of no value in the prison setting.’

Earlier this year, an investigation was launched after nude photographs of inmates at Saughton Prison in Edinburgh were posted on social media.

‘Technology is being harnessed’