Fall-off in phones seized in prisons this year

The prison service expects fewer than 1,000 phones to be confiscated in jails this year, with figures also indicating that fewer people are smuggling drugs in to inmates.

The Irish Prison Service said that up to the middle of October, just 675 phones had been seized across the entire prison system, with seizures of other forms of contraband and weapons also down.

Last year a total of 1,150 phones were seized, with 336 phones recovered in Mountjoy alone, and two years ago almost 1,400 phones were seized.