1,644 mobiles seized in prisons

IN EXCESS of 1,600 smuggled mobile phones were seized in prisons countrywide over the past 12 months, according to newly published figures.

Signalling a huge clampdown on prisoners believed to be directing organised crime from their cells, the Irish Prison Service has confiscated 1,644 mobile phones since September 2006.

Almost a third of the mobile phones were seized in Mountjoy Prison, with Limerick and Wheatfield accounting for 202 and 179 seizures respectively.

The figures were released to Labour’s Joe Costello in response to a parliamentary question to the Department of Justice.

In addition to the mobile phones seized inside prison walls, staff of the Prison Service Escort Corps intercepted three mobile phones while escorting prisoners to and from court.

The clampdown follows concerns that a number of gangland killings were ordered from the confines of a prison. In June, convicted robber John Daly telephoned RTÉ’s Liveline from his cell in Portlaoise’s maximum security prison, prompting opposition parties to claim that prisons had become a “soft option”.

Earlier this year, it also emerged that five prison officers at three Dublin jails were involved in a smuggling scam that included the delivery of phones and alcohol to inmates.

As of May, however, it is an offence for prisoners to have unauthorised possession of or to use mobile telecommunications devices. Under the act it is also an offence to supply such a device to a prisoner. Fines not exceeding 10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years are in place for individuals convicted of the offence.

In a written response to Mr Costello, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said he was determined to deal with the problem.

However, he noted that prosecutions were not possible in every instance as many mobile phones were often found in double cells, toilet areas or in the prison yards.

“I believe technology offers the only real answer to dealing with the problem. In that regard the Prison Service is at an advanced stage in the examination and procurement of technological options for dealing with the use of mobile phones within prisons,” he said.