PROBLEMS persist at a jail near Plymouth of prisoners getting hold of banned mobile phones to use to direct crime from behind bars. Despite it being illegal to have a mobile phone in prison, latest Ministry of Justice figures show 48 phones and 36 SIM cards were confiscated at Dartmoor, a Category B prison, in the last 12 months.
This is compared to a total of 84 in 2008, 40 in 2007 and 19 in 2006. And the Government admits its own data may not show the true extent of the problem, by underestimating the actual number of finds. It comes amid continuing concerns that illegal phones are being used by convicts to run criminal activities from behind bars, such as drug dealing. Behind bars, phones can cost £400 each, and the illegal trade in handsets has been estimated to be worth £9 million.
Experts believe three times as many mobile phones are in circulation within prisons as had been confiscated. Ministers admit illicit mobiles in jails are a threat to security and public safety, but insist they are committed to cracking down on the problem. While the number reflected the challenge in tackling illegal handsets, the Government argues it is also evidence of increased reporting and the success in finding them.
A range of hi-tech equipment was being rolled out to prisons including body scanning chairs – a highly sensitive metal detector which reduces the need for intimate body searches – and mobile phone signal blockers. The law had already been tightened making it a criminal offence, carrying a prison sentence of up to two years, for taking a mobile or card into a prison.
News Source:- http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk
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