Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to roll out mobile telephone blocking technology across HM prisons estate.

Jeremy Wright

The National Offender Management Service is committed to addressing the risks that mobile phones present in prisons. Part of its response is to deploy technology in prisons that prevents mobile phones from working.

In 2012 the government enacted the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Act 2012. The Act places the use of mobile phone signal interference technology in prisons on a clear legal footing, enabling maximum use of such technology and to enable private prisons to use it.

A number of prisons are equipped with ‘fixed’ (as opposed to ‘portable’) signal interference technology. Since 21 October 2013 around 300 short-range portable blockers have been deployed to 88 public sector prisons.