Illegal mobile phones have been smuggled into HMP Grampian by being hidden inside new prisoners or thrown over the wall, the prison’s governor has revealed.
Security staff at the jail are watching all known points of entry for the banned devices, which can be used for “nefarious” purposes.
Mike Hebden, who’s in charge of the Peterhead prison, told the Press and Journal that “a minority within the criminal fraternity” have tried “a number of ways” to subvert security.
He said: “That’s an unfortunate circumstance. Just as drugs come into prison, people can subvert the security process. Then those phones can be used for nefarious purposes.
“We have a perimeter wall, whereby packages could be thrown across. We’re aware of that and we monitor and capture those, but that’s a risk that we face.
“People may arrive, in what we call a banking process, where they conceal the phone internally when they come into custody.
“We’ve got equipment that can detect that but you still have to recover it.”
Death threat text messages
Just last week, the Press and Journal reported that a remorseless domestic abuser used an unauthorised mobile to send death threats to one of his victims, while he was inside HMP Grampian.
Kevin Anderson, 26, caused his pregnant girlfriend to miscarry after pushing her down the stairs, before repeatedly stabbing his next partner with scissors.
Prison officials have already taken action against Anderson for sending the threatening and abusive text messages, while serving a prison sentence of three years and nine months.
Speaking during a visit to HMP Grampian’s Family Centre and Help Hub, the Justice Secretary Keith Brown MSP admitted that contraband is a “perennial problem” in prisons.
“Not just in terms of mobile devices but drugs as well and various other contraband,” he said.
“We are getting better, for example, if you go to HMP Barlinnie, they’ve now got a whole body scanner, which is very expensive.
“It has to be licensed by the Home Office, but it’s making a huge difference, in terms of not just drugs but other illicit materials.
“Sim cards are very small, very easy to smuggle potentially into prisons, so we’re trying to introduce more body scanners.”
During the ministerial visit, the Cabinet Secretary heard about the work done to help families maintain contact with their locked up loved ones during Covid lockdowns.
Face-to-face visitation was replaced with virtual visits using video calls and prisoners were also issued with regulated mobile phones.
Now, the Scottish Government plans to make the emergency measures a permanent arrangement.
Mr Brown said: “The phones that we issue will be restricted in who you can phone. You cannot phone a victim.
“It will not be one of 10 or so approved numbers that you will be able to phone when we roll that out in future.
“We have to do it in a safe way and in a way that makes sure prisoners cannot impact people outside, either intimidating a victim or witness.”
Teething issues
A rushed rollout of mobile phones for prisoners meant that there were teething issues in the early days of the coronavirus scheme.
In one case, a mum had to ask the Scottish Prison Service to reduce her son’s minutes because he’d already phoned her for a total of 50 hours.
HMP Grampian governor Mike Hebden said: “We’re providing access for people to their families from within their cell in the quiet hours of the night at times when perhaps they’re feeling low.
“With checks and balances and the monitoring systems we have in place, we can detect criminality and prosecute accordingly.
“There will be people who misuse the process but we can remove the phone.
“We have to think about the benefits to the majority and try and reduce the risk of the minority.”
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