Prison to introduce mobile-phone blocking system

MOBILE phone blocking technology will be introduced to an Irish prison at the end of the month.

The Midlands Prison will be first jail tested with the technology. After an evaluation and a tendering process, the system will be rolled out across the rest of the prison service.

And in a further crackdown on smuggling, new airport-style security systems — with x-ray scanners — will be installed in all prisons in the summer.

The measures emerged yesterday after strong criticism of the Prison Service by Tánaiste and Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

He said he was greatly concerned at how a convicted robber was able to ring the Joe Duffy show on Tuesday using a mobile phone in the country’s most secure prison. John Daly, 27, from Finglas, north Dublin, who is serving 10 years in Portlaoise Prison, has been sent to Cork Prison for two months and has lost privileges as a result.

Mr McDowell ordered an investigation into the matter and said there were very serious questions as to how the Prison Service was run.

He also claimed there may be a “question of complicity” involving prison staff in a separate incident on Tuesday, when a Limerick gangland figure was caught with smuggled phones, pornographic DVDs and a DVD player.

A spokeswoman for the Prison Service yesterday said the introduction of mobile phone blocking technology was “progressing apace”.

She said the Midlands Prison had been selected as the first prison to be tested with the new technology, which would go live by the end of the month. The system will not affect the area neighbouring the prison.

She said each closed prison now had handheld miniature cameras which can search for mobiles and contraband in difficult-to-search areas, such as u-bends of toilets and hollowed-out legs of chairs.

She said around 600 mobile phones had been recovered in prisons in the first three months of this year.

She also announced the prison service was bringing in “airport-style security” in all closed prisons during the summer. She said everyone — prisoners, visitors and staff — would have to pass through a scanner and all bags would also be x-rayed.

She also said Mr McDowell had commenced Section 36 of the Prisons Act 2007 on Tuesday which made it a criminal offence to possess, use or supply mobile phones in prison. Offenders dealt with in the district court face a fine not greater than €5,000 and/or up to 12 months in jail. Those prosecuted on indictment face a fine of up to €10,000 and/or five years in jail.