X-ray machines have led to 'dramatic' crackdown on prison smuggling in Northern Ireland

The News looked into the matter after a written assembly question was posed to the Department of Justice by DUP MLA Michelle McIlveen, querying what was being done to stop mobile phones being brought into prison.

Last March the department had announced that it would be installing X-ray machines in Maghaberry (1,258 adult male prisoners), Magilligan (497 adult male prisoners), and Hydebank (131 women and youth prisoners).

In response to Ms McIlveen's inquiry, the department said these machines are “having a significant impact”.

To find out how much, the News Letter spoke to members of the POA.

One told the News Letter they estimated the machines to be between 95 and 97% effective, with the remainder being “false positives”.

Prior to the machines' arrival, objects which prisoners had put into their rectums could be found (especially if they were metal), but they said there was no way to scan inside prisoners for drugs they had swallowed.

The POA member told the News Letter that they hope it will stop prisoners doing so altogether because if the packages burst the drug surge can kill them.

They also added that nowadays prisoners try to smuggle electric vape devices in their bowels as well as phones – but that these often contain lithium batteries which can explode if wet, so hopefully the new machines will kill off that practice too.

“The amount of drugs entering the prison has dramatically reduced,” they told the News Letter, speaking of Maghaberry.

“I'd say its one of the biggest impacts in the prison for a long time.”

The Prison Service calls manual cavity searches “full body searches”, and one POA member said the description of them as “strip searches” was an “IRA” term.

They said that at no point is a prisoner naked; they are searched on the top half, redressed, and searched on the bottom half.

The Department of Justice was asked how the use of the x-ray machines was going.

“While the use of x-ray body scanners has significantly reduced the need for full-body searching, it cannot end its use completely,” it said.

“For example, there is a limit to the number of scans individuals can undertake; individuals may refuse to be scanned, and may intentionally or unintentionally move and distort the image.

“In these, and in other circumstances, full body searching will continue to be a legal, necessary, and proportionate technique used by the Prison Service.”

The Irish Prison Service is also seeking to install full-body scanners to check inmates for drugs, RTE has reported.

It said that at the moment, body scanners “are only used for medical purposes”.