Scots jails to pilot mobile phone blocking scheme

MOBILE phone blocking equipment will be installed at two Scottish prisons within weeks, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has confirmed.

HMPs Shotts and Glenochil are piloting the scheme. Picture: TSPL

The pilot at HMPs Shotts and Glenochil is designed to stop inmates using phones to orchestrate crimes from behind bars.

It was known that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) intended to trial the equipment, but this is the first time it has said where and when.

Mr MacAskill said: “This Government made it a criminal offence for a prisoner to possess a mobile phone and the Scottish Prison Service has already invested considerably in the use of technology and intelligence capability to detect and prevent the use of mobile phones in our prisons.

“This new legislation will allow SPS to further extend their technology to disrupt the use of mobile phones by prisoners and is scheduled to be operational in a matter of weeks.”

Colin McConnell, chief executive of the SPS, added: “Possessing or attempting to introduce a mobile phone into a Scottish prison is against the law.

“We will do everything we can to make the use of such devices impossible, and the introduction of this state-of-the-art technology is one of a range of measures we intend to take to detect, restrict and disrupt the use of mobile phones in our prisons. We will report any discoveries to the appropriate authorities.”