Inmates smuggling smartphones into Irish prisons to keep up to date with social media

Inmates are now smuggling in smartphones to Irish prisons so they can keep up their social media accounts while behind bars, it has been claimed.

According to a source, prisoners are now seeking out more elaborate phones which have access to the internet rather than mini devices which you can only make calls on.

The source said there has been an increase in the number of smartphones entering the jails which are being sold for up to €2,000 each.

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"Many inmates used to be happy just using the mini phones, which are the size of matchstick boxes, to make calls. That’s all they can do.

"And despite there being no WiFi they are still somehow managing to upload pictures for example which raises a lot of questions as to how they are managing to do this.

"At the moment, smartphones are more lucrative than even drugs as they are so sought after.

"They are being sold for thousands of euros and prisoners are willing to pay it."

In 2023, 516 mobile phones were seized compared to 35 in 2015.

Just last week, prison bosses launched an investigation after criminal Ross Hutch managed to upload multiple pictures of himself from Wheatfield Prison.

The photos show Hutch, who is a nephew of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and is serving a 10-year sentence for assault, smiling in a Leinster rugby top in a photo uploaded to social media in June.

The thug has 75 previous convictions, including violent disorder, assault, possession of a shotgun, firearms and knives and criminal damage.

At the Prison Officers’ Association annual conference in April, General Secretary Karl Dalton said the level of contraband entering Irish prisons is off the charts.

He said at the time: "From 2015 to 2023, the drug seizures entering prisons were up 160 per cent, mobile phone seizures were up 203 per cent, yet the number of related arrests by gardaí were down 52 per cent.

"During the period, the level of mobile phone seizures in Wheatfield Prison alone were up 1,374 per cent, from 35 to 516 per year.

"Over the same period in Cloverhill Prison drug seizures increased by 294 per cent from 104 to 410 per year."

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) was contacted.

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