Landline phones to be installed in Scottish prison cells

Prisoners will be given 200 free minutes per month to call numbers from a pre-approved list

Landline telephones will be fitted in Scottish jail cells for the first time.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said these would replace mobile phones issued during the Covid pandemic.

Inmates will be given 200 free minutes per month to call numbers from a pre-approved list. The SPS said they would to help improve mental health and lower the risk of reoffending.

The SPS said the landlines, which will cost £8.5m to install, would have the same robust security as jail mobiles.

Scotland's Justice Secretary, Angela Constance, said the move was a "welcome development".

She said: "This will help people in custody maintain contact with friends and family, which we know is crucial to their rehabilitative journey.

"It will also pave the way for in-cell education and give people in custody greater responsibility for their own lives - and will help ensure safe and stable prison environments."

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Prison-issue mobiles were introduced so inmates could keep in contact with family while in-person visits were restricted during the Covid lockdown.

However some prisoners hacked the technology and thousands of "misuses" were reported.

Conservative MSP Tess White claimed public safety had been put at risk as she raised concerns about the landline installations.

She said: "It's vital these dangerous mistakes aren't repeated and proper security measures are installed on these landlines to ensure they aren't used by potential drug dealers to run their businesses from their cells."

Landline phones in cells were introduced in prisons across England and Wales in 2018 to curb violence in queues for communal phones and to lessen demand for illicit mobiles.

Teresa Medhurst, chief executive of the SPS, said: "This is an important milestone for the Scottish Prison Service.

"It is an example of how the SPS is taking the lessons learned in the extremely challenging circumstances of the Covid pandemic to improve the service we provide."

It is illegal for inmates to have personal phones in prison. Those caught with one can have up to two years added on to their sentence.