On Instagram… even in prison

Selfies of criminals using cannabis, videos of street gang members partying behind bars… More and more prisoners are posting content on social networks, despite the authorities’ efforts to curb this scourge. In 2021, a record amount of mobile phones were seized, according to data obtained by The Press.

Delivered by drone, sometimes to the window, cell phones flow like hot cakes behind bars, where they are strictly prohibited. Quebec jailers seize a hundred cell phones a month in prison, more than double than before the pandemic.

Correctional officers seized 959 cell phones in 2021. A record that should be shattered in 2022: in the first nine months of 2022, almost 1,000 cell phones were seized in custody, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security obtained by The Press.

It has become rather commonplace for a prisoner to post on Instagram or Snapchat, to call his accomplices in the street or even to respond to insults from his enemies on social networks.

Incarcerated criminals expose themselves with total impunity. They do not seem to be restricted in their communications in prison and feed their social networks by posting videos from their cells.

In barely an hour of surfing Instagram and Snapchat, The Press was able to view a dozen videos and photos published from inside a prison.

“Free me”, “I’m going out soon”, “Free the gang”: the ” selfies prison” have become the new normal.

The sale of mobile phones in prison is unsurprisingly a lucrative market. In early 2020, prices could range from $500 to $1000. The amounts to be paid to obtain a cell phone increased during the pandemic. Two sources told The Press having paid $2,500 for a cell phone; they shared their precious device with other prisoners to reduce the cost.

Using a cell phone in prison gives the opportunity to feed its subscribers so as not to fall into oblivion, but could also allow conflicts to be perpetuated or even to escalate. “It allows you to be aware of what is happening [dans la rue]. And if someone provokes you, you respond. »

Record surpassed

“What we grasp is the tip of the iceberg,” says Mathieu Lavoie, president of the Syndicat des agents de la paix en services correctionnels du Québec. “It’s a scourge for the safety of the agents”, alarmed the union leader in an interview.

For the past ten years, 400 to 500 cell phones have been seized annually by provincial correctional officers, according to data made public during the National Assembly’s study of appropriations.

Like drugs and medication, cell phones are a commodity highly prized by inmates. “It allows them to continue their criminal activities, to make banking transactions, to communicate outside with their criminal affiliations. It has a considerable price inside the walls, from $500 to $1,000,” explains Mathieu Lavoie.

A phone also allows criminals to maintain their stature on social networks. Some also post photos out of sheer bravado.

But Mathieu Lavoie does not link this increase in seizures to the pandemic. He speculates, however, that the many periods of confinement in prison due to COVID-19 may have facilitated seizures, as inmates had more difficulty hiding their phones.

The Ministry of Public Security explains the explosion of seizures by the use of “dynamic searches” by officers, by the improvement of search techniques and the development of correctional sources. The detection of telephones is a “priority” issue for the Ministry, underlines spokesperson Louise Quintin, since the possession of a device allows inmates to continue their criminal activities, to intimidate a witness or to contact a victim. e.

Delivered to the window

Almost all cell phones are delivered by drone, a scourge that gives the prison system a hard time, particularly at the Montreal (Bordeaux) establishment and at the Rivière-des-Prairies prison. “It’s downright daily, even several times the same day. And these are increasingly large quantities, ”plague Mathieu Lavoie.

Some inmates even receive the royal treatment: cell phones and drugs delivered by drone directly to their cell window. Photos obtained by The Press show how inmates manage to modify the windows of their cells to receive flying parcels.

“In Bordeaux, we have a considerable number of inoperable cells, because the windows are broken,” laments Mathieu Lavoie.

In the past year, nearly two drones were spotted every day near Quebec prisons on the island of Montreal. This is almost three times more than in 2019-2020, when 225 drones were spotted, according to data made public during the study of the National Assembly’s appropriations.

In 2021, of the 689 drones spotted by corrections, about 400 managed to deliver a package. Of the number, 86% were recovered by the agents, indicates the Ministry of Public Security. However, this seizure rate fell to 78% in 2022. There has also been a decrease in the number of drones spotted monthly over the past year (48 in 2022 compared to 57 in 2021).

The union of correctional officers estimates that less than a third of drones are spotted due to the deficiency of technological tools. Despite the explosion of the problem, detection devices that are faster or can prevent drones from flying over prisons have not been deployed, laments union president Mathieu Lavoie.

On the contrary, the Ministry of Public Security boasts of having implemented mobile drone detection technologies in certain prisons as of October 2018 and of having secured 21 outdoor courtyards, in addition to securing the windows. The Ministry ensures that steps are underway to install new systems in three establishments to which it gives priority.