Smuggled phones used by prisoners to harass their victims

It is natural to assume that once a criminal has been convicted and put in prison they are no longer a threat to society. Recent reports suggest this is not the case.

Prisoners are intimidating their victims and communicating with the outside world on Facebook, using mobile phones smuggled into jail.

Inmates are forbidden to use the internet or mobile phones, but the inability of authorities to prevent them from getting hold mobiles has sparked outrage from justice campaign groups.

In the last two years, nearly 350 people in the UK have been caught posting entries on Facebook while serving a custodial sentence. All of these profiles were closed once discovered by prison officials, but it is believed that hundreds more have used the social network without arousing suspicion.

Javed Khan, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: “Offenders using Facebook from prison makes a mockery of the idea that they are being punished. We would like to see this more tightly controlled.”

Ministry of Justice figures released under a Freedom of Information request show that between July 2009 and June 2011, 342 Facebook profiles were removed.

Jean Taylor, from Families Fighting for Justice, said: “These perpetrators should not be able to have access to mobile phones in prison. They are getting away with torturing their victims. The social networking sites should police this much more closely.”

A Prison Service spokesman said: “Prisoners have no access to the internet and are barred from updating their Facebook accounts, or asking others to do so from outside prison. If they do, their accounts will be terminated.”