The SNP Government’s policy of giving free mobile phones to all prisoners has now cost taxpayers £3.2 million - £500K more than initially anticipated.
An Audit Scotland report reveals that the cost of the controversial policy has already far exceeded the Scottish Prison Service’s total estimate of £2.7 million – and the auditor’s figures only cover the financial outlay in the 2020-21 financial year.
Prison staff reported that many of the phones - which the SNP Government claimed were tamperproof – had been hacked within hours of being issued to inmates. The widespread tampering has resulted in almost 2,000 phones being confiscated.
Prisoners have used the phones to arrange drug deals and conduct organised crime activity, as well as to harass and threaten members of the public.
The Scottish Conservatives are demanding that this policy be ditched in favour of a fairer, safer and more cost-effective means of allowing inmates to contact their families.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Community Safety Minister, Russell Findlay MSP, said: “The cost of the SNP’s prison phones was already substantial, continues to rise, and we don’t know how much it will end up costing.
“Not only are they a big cost to taxpayers, but some of these phones haven been used to facilitate drug dealing from prison cells and to threaten people in the community. The state should not be providing a telecom network to organised crime gangs.
“Presumably with so many of these phones now hacked or even damaged through wear and tear, there will already be discussions about what happens next.
“We simply cannot afford to make the same mistake with another rushed rollout of hackable handsets.
“We know the safe alternative is hard-wired communications which allow prisoners contact with families but can’t be compromised in the same way as mobiles.
“SNP ministers need to realise the serious flaws with this scheme, withdraw these phones and introduce a more secure, sensible and cheaper alternative.”
Notes to editors
The SPS originally said the mobile phone project would cost £2.7 million. The Scottish Prison Service stated that ‘phase one’ of the project, where every prisoner in the SPS’ care would be given a phone, was set to cost £2.7 million. (Scottish Prison Service, Letter to the Justice Committee, 12 October 2020, Available on request).
But Audit Scotland’s report stated that the project cost £3.2 million in its first year alone. Their audit of the Scottish Prison Service found: ‘During the year SPS spent £12.8 million on COVID-19 related cost, of which most significant items include: £3.2 million on in-cell mobile phones’. (Audit Scotland, Annual Audit Report of the Scottish Prison Service 2020-21, 20 January 2022, link).
The mobile phones that were given to prisoners were hacked and are being used for drug deals. According to the Scottish Prison Service, 728 have been found since August 2020 to operate with illegal SIM cards, used for drug deals and other criminal activity. (ITV News, 13 September 2021, link; The Scottish Sun, 15 November 2020, link).
From May 2020, almost 2,000 mobile phones were taken away in prisons due to rule breaches. A Freedom of Information request to the Scottish Prison Service showed that 1,899 phones were taken away due to breaches of prison rules. A full breakdown of confiscations by prison is included as part of the FOI. (Scottish Prison Service, Freedom of information response HQ21198, 14 December; Daily Record, 28 December 2021, link).