As we have commented before, we believe that contraband cell phones are a problem of both supply and demand. Due to the demand for cell phones in prison, there is an active and highly lucrative pipeline of supply. Most prison administrations have focused on restricting the supply of contraband cell phones through detection, jamming and search.

For existing jails and prisons where the installation of a hard-wired wall phone is impractical due to cost and infrastructure limitations, a secure prison cell phone solution such as meshDETECT will achieve the same results with no capital outlays.

Inmates at the country’s newest prison will be allowed to use phones and computers in their cells – but with heavy restrictions and monitoring.

Private prison operator Serco, which has a $840 million, 25-year contract to run the new facility at Wiri, says prisoners’ calls to pre-approved numbers will be monitored, and the computers will not have internet access.

Currently all New Zealand prison cells have televisions, but in the new facility those TVs will double as computer screens with a keyboard and mouse.

“They provide basic computer access for prisoners to work on their studies while locked in their cells,” says Serco director of operations Scott McNairn. “Access to this technology imposes the expectation that prisoners will engage in purposeful activities, such as education, in what can often be an unproductive time in other prisons.”

“Computers are an education tool, they’re an education aid,” Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Iiga told TV3’s The Nation. “They help with building up the skills, building up the education in order for these offenders to go out and get meaningful jobs. We know that’s important.”

As for the phones inside the cells, Mr Lotu-Iiga says they come at “very little cost” to Serco, and will enable prisoners to make regular calls home will help reintegrate them back into society.

“There’s a de-escalation of tension that they’re not lining up behind a public phone in order to use a phone to call their families.”

Mr McNairn says it’s the same system Serco operates in the United Kingdom.

“When Serco introduced this system in UK prisons, it saw significant improvements in prison security, including a marked reduction in attempts to smuggle in mobile phones, a drop in random mandatory drug tests failures, fewer assaults, less bullying and fewer incidents of self-harm.”

Prisoners will only be able to make calls to a list of pre-approved numbers, and will not be able to call one another.

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As we have written before, a trial in a British jail has shown that in-cell telephones reduce contraband cell phone smuggling and recidivism. Now a jail in New Zealand will be installing wall phones in each of the cells of a new prison along with an advanced custodial management system.

For existing jails and prisons where the installation of a hard wired wall phone is impractical due to cost and infrastructure limitations, a secure prison cell phone solution such as meshDETECT will achieve the same results with no capital outlays.

Life on the inside looks comfortable at Mount Eden Corrections Facility, with each cell having a concrete bed, a reading light, shower and toilet and one day, prisoners may even have their own phones.

“If they have phone in their own cells, they can make the calls at a time which suits them which is great,” says Victoria University criminology professor John Pratt.

Shared payphones are the only sanctioned form of communication at present, and fights over access to them are common.

Mount Eden is operated by Serco, which has installed landlines in cells in the UK with positive results.

“Significant improvements in prison security, including a marked reduction in attempts to smuggle mobile phones into the establishment”

“And prisoners could make phone calls in more decent conditions, and the frequency and quality of contact with their families increased,” the company says in a statement.

Serco’s Mount Eden boss agreed to talk to 3 News about how such a scheme would be rolled out here, until Serco Australia stepped in and cancelled the interview, saying there are no immediate plans for phones in cells here.

Serco’s New Zealand boss is the Government, and Corrections Minister Judith Collins isn’t ruling it out.

“Obviously I’d want any, any phone lines to be scrupulously monitored, that’s really important, public safety is to come first and I’d expect to see some very compelling evidence that it assisted rehabilitation before I even think about it,” she says.

Rita Croskery’s son Michael was beaten to death 10 years ago. She says phones in cells would make prison life even more attractive.

“Prisoners are probably better off in prison than have been as people outside. They’ve got all the home comforts, nice warm beds, three meals a day,” she says.

Criminologist John Pratt disagrees.

“The more you can humanise the prisons, the better that is for rehabilitation of the prisoners, which is surely what prison should be all about,” says the professor.

An issue which will polarise public opinion and could sway any decision.

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A new prison in Australia is proposing the installation of advanced technology in each of the cells. This will include in-cell telephones. The private prison company Serco states, “The introduction of in-cell telephones in its overseas prisons had resulted in significant improvements in prison security, including a drop in the number of prisoners trying to smuggle cellphones.”

The meshDETECT secure prison cell phone solution allows existing prisons and jails to realize the same reduction in contraband cell phones without the expense of installing hard-wired phones in each cell.

Prisoners would get telephones, televisions and “electronic menu” systems in the cells of a private prison in south Auckland under plans being considered by the Department of Corrections.

British-based company Serco, which will manage the new 960-bed prison at Wiri, has introduced the technology in its prisons overseas and wants to do the same here.

The proposal includes introducing “custodial management system” screens to prison units – and in some cases to individual cells – so inmates could order meals, write shopping lists, add credit to phone accounts and see weekly timetables.

Serco said the introduction of in-cell telephones in its overseas prisons had resulted in significant improvements in prison security, including a drop in the number of prisoners trying to smuggle cellphones.

TV sets were allowed in cells, depending on prisoners’ behaviour.

Serco would not say whether it planned to use the new technology in the Wiri prison, but a Department of Corrections spokesman confirmed it was in the company’s proposal.

The SecureFuture consortium, comprised of Macquarie (financial arranger), Fletcher Construction (design and construction), Spotless (facility management provider), and Serco (operator and custodial services provider) is the preferred bidder for the $300 million 25-year contract to build and run the facility.

Canterbury University Professor of Sociology and former Paremoremo Prison inmate Greg Newbold said introducing the technology was clearly a cost-cutting exercise.

“Those private prisons have to run at a profit and 80 per cent of the cost of running prisons is in manpower.

“If you can do the administrative things electronically, you reduce the need for staff on the floor and you can run a prison more efficiently and more cheaply.

Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said the in-cell technology could save prison officers hours of mundane paperwork.

“At the moment if the prisoner wants something they have to come up to an officer and request it, so introducing these screens would mean if they’re short on toilet paper or they need a new toothbrush etc they can just enter it in.”

“But they should use it in the right way – let’s not get crazy on it and turn these places into the Hilton.”

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said he was “dumbfounded” by the proposal.

” I’ve seen no evidence that making prison a more comfortable place to be is any more likely to reduce offending than making prison a place that is unpleasant and where offenders should not want to go back to,” he said.

Source

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An article discussing a New Zealand prison’s plans to install landlines in each prisoner’s cell, similar to what has been done in two British prisons. The reason it is being considered is because, according to the article, “Evidence shows that prisoners are less likely to re-offend if they keep in touch with their families and have good family support when they are released.” Wouldn’t a secure prison cell phone service like meshDETECT be a simpler and more cost effective way to give the prisoners access to telephone services in their cells?

Corrections Minister Judith Collins says she would have concerns about prisoners talking to their criminal mates if there were landline phones in prison cells.

Landlines are installed in the cells of two private prisons in Britain operated by British company Serco, which will run the controversial new Mt Eden Corrections Facility in Auckland from August 1.

The Mt Eden facility has phones in communal areas, but there are currently no plans for them to be installed in cells.

Ms Collins today said she would have a few issues with phones in every cell.

”The first would be that they obviously wouldn’t want to be having prisoners talking to criminal mates every night. That wouldn’t be acceptable and quite clearly any phone calls on landlines would have to monitored, and scrupulously so, as they are now.

”I’d want to also be reassured that this would assist rehabilitations.”

Ms Collins said prisoners already had access to landline phones, as required by the UN treaties New Zealand has signed.

Asked if she would say no to phones in prison cells, Ms Collins said she would want any phone lines to be scrupulously monitored.

”Public safety has to come first … I’d expect to see some very compelling evidence that it assisted rehabilitations before I’d even think about it,” she said.

Serco spokesman Paul Shaw said the communal phones at Mt Eden prison could be accessed throughout the hours prisoners were unlocked – when they were not in their cells, or in work or training. Prisoners paid for calls by purchasing phonecards.

”The phones use a system which allows prisoners to ring certain pre-approved numbers, and calls can be monitored for security purposes,” he said.

Serco believed it was important for prisoners to maintain contact with their families, he said.

”Evidence shows that prisoners are less likely to re-offend if they keep in touch with their families and have good family support when they are released.”

Having landlines in communal areas was consistent with other New Zealand prisons and the majority of prisons Serco operated across the world, including two in Australia.

The Mt Eden prison is the first since 2005 to be managed by a private sector contractor.

Opposition parties have consistently condemned the move and concerns have been raised about problems at overseas prisons run by Serco.

International reports have linked some Serco prisons with violence, overcrowding and poor health care.

Source

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