British prisoner will be given a two-year sentence for taking a selfie on Facebook
Brennan Hartrey, 26, was sentenced to six years in prison in March 2016 for conspiring to blow up an ATM. In September, his sentence was extended for a year for blowing up another ATM at a gas station. Just two weeks after that, he began calmly posting selfies from his prison life on Facebook, where he sunbathes in the yard and works out in the gym. Now the man has lost his social network page and risks remaining behind bars for another two years: you cannot use a mobile phone in prison.
Hartree (in the center) is sunbathing in the yard with cellmates. He sent this photo to someone in the WhatsApp messenger.
Many of the pictures were taken on the landing or steps: the prisoner did not even try to hide that he was using a prohibited object.
Hartree even published a photo of the received document about the offense: he did not let the guard search his disk case.
The UK Prison Service issued a statement: "This behavior is completely unacceptable and we will take immediate action. We will make it clear: violators of the rules will be punished and, possibly, will increase the term of their imprisonment. We are taking decisive action to find and block mobile phones in prisons, including investing 2 million pounds (154 million rubles. — Ed.) to block the signal." The Justice Department removed Hartree's Facebook page as soon as it learned of its functioning.
Although prisoners are prohibited from carrying mobile phones and this is punishable by an additional two years in prison, the devices are often imported secretly. In 2016, the legislation on serious crimes granted prison officers new powers: now they can contact telecom operators to turn off certain SIM cards and devices. Previously, it was necessary to search prisoners for this. The British Home Office did not install signal blocking equipment in all prisons in the country: it would cost 300 million pounds (about 23 billion rubles) once and another 800 million pounds (61 billion rubles) a year to maintain the technology.
Keywords: UK | Prisoners | Punishment | Criminals | Prison