Following recent revelations about the extent of illegal mobile phone use in the country’s prisons, particularly by terror suspects, the Justice Ministry has announced a list of measures to combat the use of the devices in prisons.
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A report by the prison service, Copenhagen Police and the intelligence service PET concluded that the five people implicated in the Copenhagen terror case had access to at least 12 mobile phones, among other illegal items.
Long-standing problem
Announcing the new measures, Søren Pind, the justice minister, described the situation as untenable.
“We are facing a serious situation. The clearly report shows that in the course of the past many years, the prison service hasn’t been able to enforce the prohibition of mobile phones in prisons. That isn’t good enough,” he said.
“The current situation, in which even those in custody in terrorism cases have wide access to mobile phones, is untenable. That problem must be addressed properly, and I am therefore today presenting a number of initiatives that will strengthen the action against mobile phones in prisons.”
A total of 21 measures have been put forward dealing with combatting the smuggling of phones into the institutions, detecting their use and imposing stronger sanctions.
