31 May
Prisoner phone monitoring operations have resulted in significant prison sentences for a Wanganui duo.
One half of the duo, a woman aged 46, was in Wanganui District Court last week and was sentenced to two years and six months for cultivating cannabis and possession for supply of cannabis plant and oil.
The other half of the duo a male aged 36, currently in prison received an additional one year and three month sentence for possession for supply of cannabis oil.
“These prison sentences are a fantastic result and are the culmination of a significant amount of work done by the Department’s Intelligence Unit. We have worked closely with Police to ensure these criminals face the full consequences of their illegal actions,” says Regional Intelligence Manager Dave Alty.
“Monitoring prisoner phone calls is key to maintaining security at our prison sites. It was via this monitoring that we became aware of the couple's plans to try and introduce drugs into the Prison. They were also found to be discussing how to arrange for drugs to be introduced into the prison via other prisoner's visitors. We passed this information onto Police and it resulted in a search warrant against the woman and her subsequent arrest plus the charges against the male.
“Prisoners are fully aware that their calls can be monitored, there is no excuse for them attempting to conduct illegal or dishonest behaviour from within prison.
“This is yet another example of how we work with the Police to stop this type of illegal behaviour in our prisons and in the community. We are very proud of the efforts of the Corrections and Police staff involved and hope that these significant sentences imposed by the courts act as a deterrent to people contemplating this type of illegal activity."
Improving public safety is the Department’s priority and our intelligence operations is one of the significant ways we are achieving this by preventing prisoners committing crime from within prison.
Notes to Editors
Telephone monitoring was progressively introduced throughout the country in 2008. Every prison in New Zealand now has phone monitoring facilities.
All calls will be recorded and monitored on a random basis.
The Department also has the ability to pass any recording of interest to other agencies, such as the Police, IRD or Work and Income New Zealand.
Calls made to the Office of the Ombudsman, prisoner’s legal representatives, Members of Parliament and selected Government agencies are exempt from monitoring.
Successes thus far include charges against prisoners for robberies, gang activity and illegal drug use.
For further information contact the Communications Services Desk:
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