Inmates have had 280 mobile phones taken from them across the West Midlands a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

The repossessions have led to 23 prosecutions with extra time being added to their sentences.

The Express and Star, in Wolverhampton, report:

Prisoners risk extra time being tagged onto their sentences since the Crime & Security Act was passed in March. It aims to cut down on prisoners keeping in touch with their criminal contacts while inside.

Despite that threat, hundreds of inmates at prisons across the West Midlands and Staffordshire can today be revealed as flouting the new laws.

HMP Hewell tops the list, as 111 inmates have been found with phones, while 109 were found with phones at HMP Birmingham, in Winson Green.

At HMP Featherstone, checks revealed 38 convicts had phones, while a further five were found at Brinsford Young Offenders Institution and two at HMP Oakwood. Five inmates had phones in HMP Stafford while none were found at HMP Shrewsbury.

You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.