Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I move amendment No. 49:

In page 29, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following:

36.—(1) A prisoner who, without the permission of the governor of the prison, possesses or uses a mobile telecommunications device, or a person who supplies such a device to a prisoner without such permission, is guilty of an offence and liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.

(2) Subsection (1) applies also to a prisoner while in custody outside the prison.

(3) In this section "mobile telecommunications device" includes a component of such a device.

This is an amendment I indicated on Committee Stage I intended to introduce.

Prisoners are already prohibited from possessing mobile phones. As Deputies are aware, there are increasing concerns that mobile phones are being used by prisoners in contravention of the rules and, much more seriously, to direct or assist in criminal activities outside the prison. There should be no need, except in very limited circumstances, for a prisoner ever to have a mobile phone in his or her possession.

I therefore bring forward this amendment providing that possession or use by a prisoner of a mobile phone without permission or supply of a mobile phone shall be an offence. A person found guilty of this offence shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for 12 months, or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

I have borrowed the phrase "without the permission of the governor" so that certain exceptions can be made. For example, the governor might allow a prisoner the temporary possession of a mobile telephone to receive an urgent call if there had been a death in the family, as part of a work training programme or if the prisoner was assembling parts of the telephone during a training exercise.

The expression "mobile telecommunications device" is being used to encompass technological advances in so far as possible. Possession of a component of such a device is also to be prohibited. Deputies will appreciate that there is a pattern involving individual prisoners with sim cards that can be installed in a mobile telephone hidden somewhere on the prison estate, enabling them to have private conversations over the mobile telephone network in a way that was not contemplated.

This is not an effort to be draconian; it is an effort to protect people outside the prison system from criminal activity directed from within it and to regulate and keep good order in the prison system. It is an effort to ensure the security of the system is maintained and that arrangements are not made, for example, for the introduction of drugs or alcohol. There have been recent indications that alcohol is being supplied to prisoners in contravention of prison rules, which I regard as a serious matter. It is not that I am a puritan on the subject of alcohol, but if a pattern of supply of alcohol within prisons by persons working within the prison system is tolerated, it will have a corrupting effect on the system. Both drugs and alcohol must be kept out of the system in all circumstances and without exception.

See this speech in context