Phones in jails difficult to stop

A shortage of staff and a lack of technology means prison guards can do little to prevent illegal cellphone use by inmates, says Bevan Hanlon, spokesman for the prison officers' union, the Corrections Association.

Such illegal phone use has led to incidents such as prisoners organising escapes and drug supplies, and making lewd and inappropriate calls.

On Saturday the Weekend Herald revealed double murderer Scott Watson used a mobile phone to send explicit photos of himself and flirtatious text messages to strangers from his prison cell.

A damning report compiled last year and released under the Official Information Act highlights the easy circumvention by prison inmates of restrictions on making external telephone calls, no monitoring of inmates' calls, the limited intelligence capability of the Corrections Department, and widespread illegal use of cellphones by inmates.

Staff shortages and a lack of technology to block cellphone calls have frustrated guards' efforts to get on top of the problem.

Staff cuts over recent years had now left too few guards to cover shifts, with many working overtime to fill the gaps, Mr Hanlon said.

"They're just not getting all their work done. This is, unfortunately, one of the things that happens when the workload goes on."

New prisons were getting intelligence gathering teams, but existing institutions did not have them, Mr Hanlon said.

He acknowledged that inmates were planning crimes from jail using both landlines and cellphones which were not being monitored.

"All we can do is go hunting (for illegal cellphones)."

On the report's recommendations for improvements in prison security, Mr Hanlon said there were "lots of great ideas that need to be implemented but they're just not implementing them".

Corrections Department policy manager Richard Bargh, said the department was working towards implementing the report's recommendations.

"The focus for us over the last year, is to prevent inmates' access to drugs.

"We know that if you put in place more rigorous search and prevention methods at point of entry, you can confiscate a significant amount of contraband, including drugs and cellphones."

The department did not have the capability at the moment to monitor prisoners' phone calls, Mr Bargh said.

"We are developing a plan to put in place the staff who can do that, and we'll be looking to put in the technology after that."

Mr Bargh said inmates would always try to circumvent any measures taken to prevent their access to drugs.

He admitted the department needed to do more to prevent cellphone use in prisons. Existing technology which could be used to block cellphone calls from prisons would also disrupt the network outside the prison walls and was therefore not an option, he said.

- NZPA