2,010 mobile phones found in prisons but just 12 prisoners convicted.
Lenihan failing in fight against prison drug games
Brian Lenihan’s promise to clamp down on the use of mobile phones in prisons looks laughable after just 12 convictions were secured from the discovery of more than 2,000 mobiles in prison, Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton TD has said.
“Some 2,010 mobile phones have been seized in prisons by the Irish Prison Service. Since May it has been illegal for prisoners to have a mobile phone. Yet only 30 legal proceedings have been launched against prisoners since then, resulting in just 12 convictions. Twelve convictions for 2,010 mobile phones seized is a rate of less than 1%. This is a serious failure by the Minister.
“Far too little is being done to prevent criminal gangs from operating inside prisons. Drug gangs are still operating on the inside, and it is widely believed that murders have been ordered by inmates. Section 36 of the Prisons Act 2007, which makes it illegal for prisoners to have a communications device, is clearly not being enforced widely or strictly enough to deter hardened criminals from continuing to engage in organised crime.
“I welcome the allocation of €3.7 million in the Budget for phone-blocking technology for prisons, but I do not believe this will be enough to deal with all 15 prisons in which mobile phones have been seized. If Minister Lenihan is incapable of clamping down on the drugs gangs through the application of the 2007 Prisons Act, then he needs to make sure that at least the resources are available for technology to prevent them operating.”
Ends
Please find attached a Dáil Question on mobile phones seized in prison and resulting convictions.
QUESTION NO: 899
DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. Lenihan)
by Deputy Lucinda Creighton
for WRITTEN on Tuesday, 11th December, 2007.
* To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amount of prisoners in the prison system here who have been caught in the possession of mobile phones in the past five years; the number of prosecutions this resulted in; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
- Lucinda Creighton
The confiscation of mobile phones has until recent times been recorded by our prisons under the generic description of “prohibited articles”. An accurate breakdown of statistics as requested by the Deputy is not therefore available without the manual examination of records going back over a considerable time period.
Section 36 of the Prisons Act 2007, which was brought into operation from 1 May, 2007 makes it an offence for prisoners to have unauthorised possession of or use mobile telecommunications devices. Under the Act it is also an offence to supply such a device to a prisoner. The penalty for such an offence, on summary conviction, is a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and on conviction on indictment, a fine not exceeding €10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.
It is Irish Prison Service policy to report seizures of mobile phones to the Garda authorities. It is important to note that prosecutions will not arise in respect of all instances of mobile phone seizure, owing to the number of mobile phones found in double cells, toilet areas or in the prison yards. It would be impossible to determine in such instances what prisoner was the owner or intended recipient of such devices.
Statistics in relation to the number of mobile phones seized during the course of 2007 to date are recorded in the table below.
Prison Number of Mobile Phones Seized
Arbour Hill 5
Training Unit 49
Shelton Abbey 25
Portlaoise 60
Castlerea 94
Midlands 143
Cloverhill 120
Limerick 241
Mountjoy 687
Dóchas 67
St. Patrick’s Institution 132
Wheatfield 188
Loughan House 85
PSEC 6
Cork 108
Total 2010
There are thirty proceedings commenced recorded on PULSE relating to possession of a telecommunications device without the permission of the Governor of a prison, with twelve convictions recorded.
