Three Jailed for Using Phones in Prisons

Three men have been sentenced to one months jail sentences in Ireland for breaking the law prohibiting the use of mobile phones while in prison. They are the first people to be sentenced under new legislation which was introduced earlier this year. Six other men are due to be prosecuted for the same offence within the next few weeks.

Jonathan Burke was found to be in possession of a mobile phone in his cell inside Cloverhill Prison when it was searched in May. Connor Murphy was found to have a mobile phone in his cell at Wheatfield Prison, and Lithuanian Andreas Ogor Odnikas was found guilty of having a mobile phone on him in the recreation yard of Cloverhill Prison.

There has been controversy in Ireland this year over the presence of mobile phones in prisons, with the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell claiming earlier that some 600 phones had been confiscated in the first five months of this year alone - hence the new legislation criminalising the possession of a mobile phone in prison, which was introduced in May.

Posted to the site on 20th August 2007