Prisoners to be blocked from terrorising victims on phone

PRISONERS who try to intimidate their victims from jail will have their phones blocked under a scheme to end abuse.

Victims will be able to sign up to a service that will guarantee any offender will be barred from using official prison phones to contact them.

It will also give victims access to a fast response unit if the prisoner tries to use an illicit mobile to call them, so that it can be tracked and stopped.

Victims of domestic abuse are the most vulnerable to being targeted from behind bars, but the service will be open to any victim of a crime facing abuse from any jailed offender.

Damian Hinds, the prisons minister, said: “We will never tolerate domestic abusers who seek to continue their campaign of abuse from behind bars and will always take tough action against the prisoners responsible.”

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of Victim Support, said: “Unwanted contact from offenders is frightening and stressful. It can stop victims from moving on with their lives and, particularly in cases of domestic abuse, is often used to intimidate victims and continue campaigns of abuse. We welcome steps to make it easier and quicker to take action and hope that this will make a real difference for victims.”

Trials of the Unwanted Prisoner Contact Service were carried out at Kent and Thames Valley earlier this year when hundreds of victims came forward to have their abusers blocked.

Under the scheme a prisoner who tries to use one of the official phones in a jail to abuse a victim will find the number blocked to prevent them from doing so. Letters to a “banned” address will also be intercepted and stopped.

If the offender borrows a phone or uses an illicit mobile smuggled into the jail to try to abuse someone, the victim will be able to contact the service. Police, probation and prison staff work together to identify the offender and jail within a day and stop the abuse.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “By creating a single hub for police victims and support agencies, the new service will ensure a speedier response with dedicated case handlers quickly locating offenders and blocking contact. It will also prevent abusers from using other offenders to torment their victims by barring victims’ contact details from all prison phones.”