PRISON chiefs are electronically blocking 660 mobile phone calls a day – at a jail with 550 inmates.
Since May 2016, when the blocking technology was installed at HMP Shotts, North Lanarkshire, more than 418,000 mobile calls have been intercepted.
The jail is the maximum security home to 200 murderers and other long-term prisoners but the number of blocked calls suggests large numbers of mobiles are making their way inside.
The Scottish Prison Service said it believed calls from around 40 mobiles held by inmates were being used during one recent three-month period.
The items are highly-prized by convicts for everything from keeping in touch with families to maintaining criminal activities and even taunting victims on social media.
HMP Shotts is the only Scottish prison to use the controversial IMSI-catcher technology – which acts as a “fake” mobile tower to effectively catch and then block phones trying to connect to a network.
The figures, released under Freedom of Information, show that in the 663 days from 1 May 2016 to the 24 January this year, when the response was released, inmates attempted to connect to a network more than 148,000 times.
This equates to around 660 times a day, and an average of 27 times every hour – in a prison which holds up to 553 inmates.
The SPS added: “A recent analysis of data for a three month period identified 40 mobile phones which were intercepted/blocked. These phones are considered to be unlawfully in the possession of prisoners.”
Liam Kerr, Scottish Conservative Shadow justice secretary, said: “The Scottish Conservatives repeatedly called for signal-jamming technology to be introduced, and this proved we were right to do so.
“This is definitely a step in the right direction, and exposes the sheer scale of mobile phone use inside.
“The next challenge is to make sure mobile phones are stopped from entering prison at all.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “We have taken a number of steps to tackle the use of illicit mobile phones in our prisons.
“Regulations, approved by Scottish Ministers in December 2017, allow a court to order a Communication Service Provider to disable a mobile phone rendering it useless and of no value in the prison setting.”
HMP Shotts is home to some of Scotland’s most notorious offenders, including James Smith.
In 2015 Smith beat his brother-in-law Alexander Cameron to death with a mallet and an axe, before tying up the body and burying it in a pile of horse manure on his West Lothian Farm.
It was revealed this month that wife-killer Nat Fraser had six months added to his jail term after using an illegal phone to call his mum from HMP Addiewell in West Lothian.
