Edinburgh tops table for phones seized from prison inmates

More inmates at Edinburgh’s jail have been caught with mobile devices than anywhere else in Scotland over the past year, according to a new report.

At least 60 phones and SIM cards have been retrieved from convicts by guards at HMP Edinburgh in Saughton between March 2017 and February 2018, despite a Scottish Prison Service (SPS) crackdown on devices being smuggled into prisons.

The figures, made available through a freedom of information request, found a rise in the number of handsets seized at eight of Scotland’s 15 prisons over the past year.

Prison officers retrieved an average of one device every six days from the 861 inmates at the capital’s maximum security complex during that period, 15 more than Addiewell and almost 30 more than Perth.

The findings come despite a raft of new measures introduced towards the end of last year aimed at reducing the number of illicit devices held by convicts.

Justice secretary Michael Matheson announced a series of new “telecommunications restrictions orders” in November, including installing technology in prisons to block phone signals.

An SPS spokeswoman said: “Any prohibited items being recovered within our establishments can be attributed to the professionalism and diligence of our staff and partners, advances in technology and the deployment of various methods of detection, such as intelligence gathering and tactical dog units.”

She added: “If we receive information to suggest that prisoners are in possession of mobile devices we will take all appropriate action and report it to the relevant authorities.”

The overall number of devices confiscated fell slightly over the period, dropping from 275 in 2016-17 to 273 in 2017-18.

Seven prisons in Scotland, including Barlinnie, Glenochil, Grampian, Inverness, Kilmarnock, Perth and Shotts saw a drop in the number of handsets seized.

At Addiewell, guards confiscated 45 devices from inmates, almost three times the 17 found the previous year, while at Polmont, officers seized 13 mobile handsets from prisoners, compared to two in the 2016-17 period.

Nationally, the rate of discovery dropped from an average of six per 100 prisoners to four per 100 prisoners over the same timeframe.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “This is an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service. As this report makes clear, taking a mobile phone into a prison is a criminal offence that carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment.”