Justice written question – answered at on 16 March 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what mechanisms he has put in place to prevent the use of mobile communication devices within prison.
We have implemented a strategy to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found.
The Offender Management Act 2007 made it a criminal offence to convey specific items, including mobile phones and associated equipment into or out of a prison or to transmit sounds or images from within a prison. The Crime and Security Act 2010 will also make it an offence, with a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine, to possess an unauthorised mobile phone or other electronic equipment or component element that can receive or transmit information electronically within a prison.
Robust local security and searching strategies are key to addressing the risks presented by illicit mobile phones. 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.
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. 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.
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