Surprise, surprise!

How jailed criminals are using their free phones for...crime

PRISONERS in Scotland are using mobile phones given to them in a £3million Scottish Government scheme to arrange drug deals and commit other crimes.

More than 10,300 handsets were handed to prisoners to help them stay in touch with family while visiting was restricted during the pandemic.

The phones, 7,500 of which are in use at any one time, were supposed to be tamperproof. However, figures show that since August, 728 devices have been found with illegal SIM cards, which can be used for drug deals and other criminal activity.

John McTavish, a prison officer at HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow, told ITV News: ‘You give a prisoner a phone, and they’re very, very ingenious. If they put their mind to something, they can do anything. Within hours, the tamperproof was gone.’ Mr McTavish added that about a third of the phones he checked at Barlinnie had been tampered with.

He said: ‘I checked the phones in one of the halls in March and of the 300 prisoners that were there, it was probably about 100 phones tampered with.’

Drugs bought with the devices can sometimes be thrown over prison walls. When asked about it, Nicola Sturgeon told ITV News she was not aware of the phones being tampered with and said her government would look into it.

She added: ‘We created a different way for prisoners to have contact with their families, in some cases with their children. If you want to give me evidence of phones been tampered with, I will absolutely look at that.’

Conservative drug policy spokesman Sue Webber said: ‘It’s shocking that the SNP Government appears to be clueless that hundreds of taxpayer-funded phones given to prisoners are being used by criminals to deal drugs. Nicola Sturgeon didn’t even know it was happening.

‘The SNP’s supposedly “unhackable” phones have played into the hands of drug dealers and organised crime. Not only have these phones been a gift to drug dealers – but they cost the taxpayer an astronomical £2.7million as well.’

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: ‘It remains the case that those who continue to make money out of human misery will attempt to traffic drugs into our prisons. By the use of technology, intelligence and partnership working with other agencies, we will work to stop them.’

Last month, Sheriff John MacRitchie criticised Addiewell jail in West Lothian as he sentenced Scott Boyd, 26, from Lanark, who pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited SIM card in his cell on April 2 this year.

The sheriff said: ‘Addiewell has a particular issue with this. This court has such matters calling before it frequently.’

He said the number of smuggled SIM cards being used to hack prison-issue mobiles had the potential to pervert the course of justice and intimidate witnesses.