MOBILE PHONES NOW JAMMED IN PRISONS

Corrections Department Cutting Off Contact Between Drug Dealers On
The Outside And Inside To Stem Flow Of Narcotics

Devices to block mobile phone signals have been installed at three
maximum security prisons to cut off contact between prisoners and
drug dealers on the outside, Corrections Department chief Wanchai
Rujanawong said yesterday. Mr Wanchai said the devices were
installed after a series of attempts to contact dealers and bring
drugs into the prisons.

Last week some crystal metham-phetamine, or Ya Ice, was discovered
hidden inside the cover of a pocket book sent to Lueng Pak Lun, a
Korean convicted of drug offences, in zone 10 of the Khlong Prem
Central Prison.

The discovery triggered a thorough search of the prison.

Prison officials suspect the drug was ordered by mobile phone and
delivered through mobile phone contacts inside and outside the prison.

The department is conducting a trial run of the devices used to
block mobile phone transmissions.

It is the latest technology to be installed after the previous
signal jammer equipment used by prison authorities disrupted the
transmission of mobile phone signals in nearby houses. "For this
reason, we opted for a device which works with more specific scope
within the prison," Mr Wanchai said.

The signal blocking devices are under trial at Khlong Prem Central
Prison, Bang Kwang Prison and the Central Correctional Institute for
Drug Addicts, which houses high-profile drug traffickers.

The department chief, however, admitted it was difficult to screen
items sent in by mail.

He said some narcotics were sealed inside cups of yoghurt or in
bottles of lotion.

Mr Wanchai added that one prisoner was found to have brought in
drugs stuffed in condoms which were inserted in his anus after he
came back from trial in court.

"It's the same old tricks, like putting speed pills inside toads
which have had their organs removed and are then tossed over the
prison walls. But now guards are intercepting them," he said.

Mr Wanchai said X-ray machines at the three correctional facilities
have been useful in screening suspicious items.

The department also asked the post office to photocopy the
identification cards of people who mail parcels to prisons.

Mr Wanchai said prisons are rejecting items sent through post
offices at some hypermarkets after drugs were found in packages of
consumer products.

There have also been complaints from foreign convicts, who have been
upset that parcels addressed to them had been rifled through. Some
of the cases ended in lawsuits against prison staff and wardens.

Prisons normally must obtain a warrant from a court to search
prisoners' mail. The Justice Ministry, however, is now seeking a
change of the law to leave it up to the prison commander to decide
whether to authorise a search.