Scottish jail raids find 200 mobile phones smuggled in the facilities

A raid carried out by the Scottish Prison Service and targeting around 1000 inmates in two jails found that one in five had managed to smuggle mobiles into their cells.

UK prisons affected by staff shortages, minister admits image 1

In excess of 200 mobiles have been detected in HMP Shotts and HMP Glenochil during the past six weeks, which is more than double the amount confiscated in 2013, a news report in the local media has recently revealed. Prisoners caught smuggling in mobiles face a maximum of two years or a fine.

Smuggling phones into prisons can have very serious consequences, as several convicted fellons have been exposed operating lucrative businesses, intimidating their victims and contacting their loved ones from behind bars via their phones.

Gangsters and drug dealers have been able to keep running their empires from behind bars using smuggled devices.

Implementing a very solid and reliable visitor monitoring system within prisons is another measure that could help further reduce the smuggling phenomenon, and this is specifically where Tensor Prison Pass will prove its worth.

Our Prison Pass system is a low cost, easy to install, computer based pass system for registering each visitor, both on and off site that will enable HM Prison Service Officers to quickly check the identity and monitor the movements of visitors.

A photograph taken by a digital or eyeball camera is printed on a bar-coded pass using a high speed printer so each visitor is easily identified. Then, at controlled monitor points, the visitor pass badge is simply swiped and a high quality digital image appears to the HM Prison Service Officers thus verifying that the correct person is passing through.

Additionally, biometrics can be combined with the visitor badges to operate the system. Tensor’s range of dermal fingerprint reading technology gives increased accuracy and reliability, and is perfect for when irrefutable proof of identity is required.

Tensor can offer various financing and rental packages to both private and public sector organisations who wish to install our products so, if you’d like to find out more about the Prison Pass solution or any other Tensor product, just contact us or Book a Demo.