Hope it wasn't the Nokia Lumina 920,
Must have discovered it when they saw he was walking funny!
Imagine the search........ FORCEPS.....
Prisoner found with phone + charger in anal cavity
A Scottish man has been given an extra stretch inside after prison officials found him trying to smuggle both a mobile phone and its charger into prison up his bottom. Christopher Hughes was facing a nine-year sojourn in the Big House for stabbing four people outside a Motherwell nightclub with a pair of scissors. He pleaded …
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Thursday 29th November 2012 19:24 GMT dssf
mini maxi
Endubitably, in his arss, the mini pad would be a maxi, more than an app pole in his eye, in his hind site and hind sight. But, the prison staff will keep his hind in sight as hind insight. He might need or have a kneed for an ennd tear rear de-core rater to fix him up for bigger and bedder thing...
Even if he got to make those phone call, they would be more expensive than sh*t. Gives a hole new mean ning to dirty talk....
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Thursday 29th November 2012 19:31 GMT Don Jefe
Call Prices
Not only are phone calls to the outside insanely expensive, they are collect only unless someone loves you enough to buy a prepaid card (right there in the jail from a little ATM style kiosk) and give it to you for use on your "phone days".
There's really no reason to make life so miserable for those in jail. It just makes certain companies a lot of money and gives high-school drop outs a job being dicks to prisoners.
Ladies, if you're actually online, just have sex with the nerds in high-school. It'll make them not grow up to be the asshats that will eventually arrest and harass your future husband.
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Friday 30th November 2012 10:36 GMT James Micallef
Re: There's really no reason to make life so miserable for those in jail
"Too right. Give them the vote, PS3, iPads, Sky and why not beer on Fridays too."
No need to be sarcastic about it. It doesn't cost phone companies anything extra to set up a phone in a prison (presumably the prison administrative offices have phones), so calls made my inmates should be made at the same rates as calls made by guards / prison admin. Of course within the limits of allowed phone privileges.
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Monday 3rd December 2012 00:07 GMT Thorne
Re: There's really no reason to make life so miserable for those in jail
"Ahh the psychological method - bountiful pleasures issued at the same time as the unimaginable torture of being forced to watch Sky 24 hours a day - I like your style."
Look at Sherrif Joe
He took away their pay TV until some lawyers explain that it's prisioner's human rights to have pay TV so he gave it back with just the Disney Channel and the Weather Channel.
When asked about the Weather Channel he said "So they'll know how hot it will be working on my chain gangs"
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Thursday 29th November 2012 20:27 GMT Matthew Anderson
Re: Call Prices
@Not only are phone calls to the outside insanely expensive, they are collect only unless someone loves you enough to buy a prepaid card
Not true, you are given a passcode when you first enter prison(UK) and can place money on that each week from your spends. Past experience recently on this!
As for the bum smuggling, it is rife in open prison where you can have home leave/outside work etc so a higher proportion of inmates coming in and out.
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Friday 30th November 2012 10:35 GMT Rampant Spaniel
Re: Call Prices
Prison is intended to be a deterrant, a punishment and rehabilitation. If it were a nice place to be it would not be any good at the first two roles. There are laws against cruel and inhumane punishment (although I honestly think for more than 3 offenses, prison isn't woring, maybe we try something more unorthodox) but for prison to work we should not be making it a giant mancave with curry nights. It does a disservice to the victims of crime and to the prisoners. They should fear prison, prison should be a place people do not want to go to or back to. To help prisoners, prison needs to be a shock to them, which should encourage them to reform. I support helping them reform and gain skills, I don't support making their lives cushy.
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Friday 30th November 2012 11:29 GMT Rampant Spaniel
Re: Call Prices
True, but isn't it done by competitive tender? The additional money will be going somewhere, perhaps to cover the cost of monitoring (which seems fair), or in kickbacks to the gov't. (not exactly fair) or in excessive profit (unlikely if it's a tender process). Perhaps the 'back end' (sorry no pun intended) system used to manage credit probably costs some extra amount, but they are probably very well used which should make them more financially viable then the telephone box on the vilage green which should go some way to counteract the bespoke billing system.
Without having seen the contracts and tender its tough to say exactly why charges are so high. Hospitals aren't much better but they vary massively between normal call price levels and insert kidney now levels.
I wouldn't object any to the govt looking into pricing levels but the public purse shouldn't be subsidising it to any degree, if it turned out that it costs that much to run and monitor the so be it. Theres probably some degree of fat in the system but not too much as quite a few companies could bid on it.
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Friday 30th November 2012 11:43 GMT Rampant Spaniel
Re: Call Prices
Just checked, it would seem the number of phones and limited access to them is a bigger issue than cost (although prices aren't cheap, BT did cut them). BT stated that the increased cost vs a payphone was primarily due to the security (the GOTU system and the payment system) and monitoring.
BT deserve a profit but it shouldn't be insane. I agree that having contact with family helps with rehabilitation, but I think its fair for the prisoner to shoulder a realistic cost. The numbers I saw weren't crazy, they weren't cheap but I've paid more on a cell phone in the past.
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Friday 30th November 2012 11:41 GMT Elmer Phud
Re: Call Prices
"To help prisoners, prison needs to be a shock to them, which should encourage them to reform."
Nice try but it doesn't work.
Execution, flogging and birching never stopped the flow of criminals in to pokey.
Execution never stopped killers and flogging and birching was seen as a badge of honour.
The Victorians thought that mindless activities would be an 'encouragement' but it didn't work.
And as for the magic number'3' . . .
Definately 'meh'
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Friday 30th November 2012 11:51 GMT Rampant Spaniel
Re: Call Prices
It doesn't work for everyone. It does work for some. The biggest issue with prison is it's a one size fits all approach and that doesn't work.
You and I are different, we are motivated by different things, we probably fear different things. Prison should not be a nice place. The idea that simply depriving people of their liberty is some horrendous punishment is erroneous. For you and I perhaps that would be sufficent, for others obviously it is not as they repeatedly reoffend. I don't see the issue with ensuring that prison is not a pleasant place and if somebody reoffends a few times considering that we need to take a different route for that person. That might be greater assistance with reintegrating into society, more help with issues such as drug abuse, or it might be making their stay in prison less 'nice'. One size fits all doesn't work. I'm not advocating execution but we need to consider a wider variety of techniques (both in assistance \ rehab and in punishment) where it is clear the current system isn't working.
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Friday 30th November 2012 14:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Call Prices
The "punishment" aspect doesn't count for much for the serial offenders, and as such prison is neither rehabilitation, punishment or deterrent. And in that case we should recognise that it is simply a sin bin, and put people on (say) their third stretch into a special place run purely at the lowest cost possible (and make them serve the full sentence plus 100%).
If that sin bin involves creature comforts, so be it, if it is simply Dartmoor with no central heating (which seems more likely), then that too is fine with me. The only purpose being served is to keep serial offenders off the streets for as long as possible, before they are released, can offend again, and go back to the sin bin.
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Saturday 1st December 2012 23:25 GMT James 100
Re: Call Prices
"Execution never stopped killers"
It's actually very effective at that: very few killers commit further murders after being executed... I take it you mean the threat of execution doesn't prevent killers from committing the crime in the first place? Statistical studies of the last decade tend to conclude exactly the opposite, that there is indeed a noticeable deterrent effect. It fits with common sense as well - surely the more severe the punishment, the more likely people are to balk at risking it?
(In fact, a distant relative of mine, John 'Babbacombe' Lee, was hanged - unsuccessfully, of course - no less than three times, back in the 19th century; after the third attempt failed, it was commuted to life imprisonment, so he eventually he emigrated to the US and died there in 1945 - without being convicted of any further murders, either, so executing him clearly taught him a lesson too!)
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Thursday 29th November 2012 19:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
"access to [...] fixed-line phone [...] strictly limited [...] highly expensive"
Mobile phones are highly prized by prisoners, since access to the fixed-line phone services is strictly limited and highly expensive
Also more likely to be recorded and monitored, which might be important to some prisoners who want to maintain contact with their "outside interests".
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Thursday 29th November 2012 21:39 GMT Mike Flex
"In the US, for example, phone companies have a literally captive market and charges are among the highest in the world, with a 15 minute call costing as much as $17, according recent reports."
I'm sure that's fascinating but as the prisoner in question has been, according to the linked article, sent to Castle Huntly prison near Dundee wouldn't it be more relevant to mention the call rates in Scottish prisons?
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Thursday 29th November 2012 22:58 GMT LinkOfHyrule
Re: Ouch
I remember reading, probably on this site actually in another story about phones in the nick, that they often use USB chargers connected to the USB sockets on PS3s or something - then again it might have been a misguided visit to the Daily Mail website as it would probably be them going on about "Convicted Illegal Immigrant Criminals Playing Grand Theft Auto on Playstation at Taxpayers Expense - Is This A New Cure For Cancer?"
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Friday 30th November 2012 09:59 GMT Craig 28
I'm sure if they really cared that much they could install mobile phone jammers in the prison or something. I know it'd stop the staff and visitors from using them too but that's the price of security.
Like others I'm wondering what he might have plugged the USB cable into. I'd have thought one of those solar keyring chargers would be more help, but then they'd struggle to give a smartphone much juice at all.
Oh and the article forgot that the internet is also a way to access materials you probably can't access in a prison, namely pr0n.
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Friday 30th November 2012 10:29 GMT Rampant Spaniel
They do care and have tried but it was a legal headf**k. There were issues with only jamming within the boundries of the prison (and not some poor sod walking past outside) and also with the legality of potentially blocking 999 calls from visitors / staff. Plus no doubt there was some human rights law infringement of some kind. The irony that prisons have legal issues with stopping criminals breaking prison rules...
The world needs less lawyers.
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