Prisons Struggling To Answer The Call Of ‘Cell’ Phones

The Prison Service is experiencing problems in locating prisoners’ “cells”. Mobile phones are banned in prisons but they are being smuggled in and the cost of finding these cell-phones is causing problems, especially in these cash-strapped times.

In parliament, Karl Turner, Labour MP for Hull, asked Crispin Blunt, secretary of state for justice, what mechanisms had been put in place to prevent the use of mobile communications. In his reply, Blunt said, “We are trialling a range of signal denial technology in a number of establishments; however, at this stage we cannot provide much detail for security and operational reasons. The trials confirm that denying signals in prisons is not a quick, simple or cheap option.”

Technically Challenging

The prison system is faced with massive cuts aiming to reduce the annual costs of incarceration from £40,000 per prisoner to £25,000. This means that the expensive task of finding phones may also suffer.

Blunt explained, “It is highly technically challenging, given the nature of the different fabric and layouts of prisons; the need to identify technology that is effective at denying signals within prisons without adversely affecting signals outside the prison; and ensuring compliance with Health and Safety and regulatory requirements.”

Warders average one phone confiscation per hour and yet the problem persists. Last year over 8,000 phones were discovered by various means, including specially-trained sniffer dogs but the costs of searches have failed to stem the flood.

A strategy is in place to prevent phones entering prisons, to find those that do get in, and to disrupt signals to any phones that cannot be found.

“Robust local security and searching strategies are key to addressing the risks presented by illicit mobile phones,” Blunt asserted. “A range of technology has been made available to prisons to strengthen searching and security, including portable mobile phone signal detectors, body orifice security scanners (BOSS chairs), and high sensitivity metal detecting wands which can detect internally concealed items such as mobile phones.”

Just prior to the last election, Baroness Neville-Jones, the current security minister who was then in opposition, berated the Labour government. She said, “How can the Government have done so little as the number of phones found in prisons has more than tripled?”