Over 9,200 mobile phones were seized from inmates in the Irish prison system in the past 8 years, according to Prison Service data.
According to figures released by the Irish Prison Service, there were 626 contraband phones confiscated by prison authorities in 2015. By 2023, this had more than doubled to 1,272.
Over the same period, a total of 9,286 phones were apprehended.
In Irish prisons, inmates are generally prohibited from possessing personal mobile phones. However, to facilitate communication with family and support networks and promote rehabilitation, the Irish Prison Service has implemented in-cell telephony systems, with landline telephones being installed in cells across several prisons, including Castlerea, Cloverhill, Limerick, and the Midlands Prison, at a cost of €1.1 million.
These in-cell telephones allow prisoners to make outgoing calls to approved numbers, with all calls subject to monitoring and having restricted frequency and duration, and there are plans to extend such in-cell phones to all prisons nationwide.
However, despite such measures, in recent years there has been a significant surge in mobile phones being seized by prison officers.
Moreover, between 2015 and 2023, there were 10,371 drug seizures and 3,965 weapon seizures, but just 869 arrests by Gardaí for such contraband ownership.
This is because much of the contraband seized is found by authorities due to contacts outside the prison throwing goods over prison walls to be collected by inmates, which is then sometimes intercepted before its intended recipient can receive it.
“The suspension of visits for significant periods since March 2020, as a result of COVID 19, has forced a shift in the methods used for trafficking contraband into prisons,” the Irish Prison Service said in a statement.
“We have seen an increase in the number of ‘throw overs’ – i.e. contacts on the outside attempting to throw mobile phones and drugs into exercise yards. Due to the regimes currently in operation in our prisons, prison staff have been able to identify and intercept many of these ‘throw overs’, ensuring they do not reach the prison population.”
They added that preventing contraband entering Irish prisons is a “high priority”.
“In addition, staff have increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis,” they continued.
“Our canine unit carry out searches around the prisons, including a greater focus on searching deliveries. Recent examples of this was in Mountjoy Prison, where two of the biggest seizures of contraband to date was recorded.
“An increase in drug found in the post, parcels and prisoner clothing has also increased as a result of visits being suspended. Advancements in our drug detection technology has proved particularly effective in identifying drugs that are sprayed onto letters, newspapers and other prisoner property.”
In a statement o Gript, the Prison Service added that they have a free confidential phone line for members of the public to report prison smuggling.
“There is a free confidential telephone line (1800 855 717) and text line (086 180 2449) which is operational,” they said.
“Prisoners, visitors, staff or members of the public with information on the trafficking of prohibited items into our prisons can pass on that information in the strictest confidence.”