SNP’s prison mobiles for inmates cost the taxpayer £60k a month

MOBILE phones for criminals locked up in jails are costing taxpayers £60,000 a month.

The Scottish Daily Mail revealed earlier this month that every inmate is to be given a ‘free’ mobile phone when they are locked up.

The plan caused anger when it was introduced in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus crisis when prison visits were stopped as part of lockdown restrictions.

Now it has emerged that making the scheme permanent will cost £60,000 a month or £720,000 a year, despite concern that some phones are being used to commit crimes from behind bars.

Last night Scottish Tory jus

‘Put public safety at risk’

tice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘It beggars belief that the SNP continue to be happy to shell out so much taxpayers’ money on this dangerous and discredited scheme.

‘Serious crimes have been conducted from behind bars as a result of prisoners having access to these phones.

‘That has put public safety at risk, yet the SNP Government is content to let costs of the scheme spiral out of control at a time when frontline policing services are facing more terrifying cuts. The scheme should be scrapped as a matter of urgency.’

When the plan was introduced, the then justice secretary Humza Yousaf spent £2.7million on the phones.

He insisted: ‘It is important that prisoners and their families are supported while visit restrictions are in place.’

But reports suggest that inmates are tampering with the devices to sell drugs and commit other serious crimes.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accepted that ‘robust monitoring’ had identified the tampering of some handsets.

But she said mobile phones helped deal with the effects a lack of personal contact can have on prisoners.

The Scottish Government recently published its final report on the Coronavirus Acts which are described as ‘legislation necessary to respond to the pandemic’. While the report states that 66 temporary measures have expired, it also says the law enshrining a prisoner’s right to a mobile phone will remain on an ‘open-ended’ basis.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Mr Greene, Justice Secretary Keith Brown said: ‘The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) estimate that to continue with the scheme it will cost £60,000 per month.’

At Holyrood last week, Miss Sturgeon claimed the devices allowed criminals to maintain ‘connections’ with families and could help to turn their lives around.

But Tory MSP Russell Findlay pointed to evidence they were being used for illicit activities and urged Miss Sturgeon to spend cash on public services rather than ‘freebies for criminals’.

He accused the First Minister of ‘slashing budgets’ for police, courts and prisons while spending millions on phones used to ‘order firebombings, drug dealing and to threaten crime victims’.

An SPS spokesman said: ‘The use of prison-issued phones is robustly monitored and we act upon any suspicion of illegal activity. However, the majority have been used as intended, by keeping people in touch with family members and supporting good mental health and wellbeing.’

A Government spokesman said: ‘The issuing of mobile phones to prisoners has been a vital measure in addressing the negative impacts of Covid19 in our prisons.’