The Scottish Government forked out that much cash to give criminals free Nokia phones during the Covid pandemic. A new report has found that... well, you can probably guess. They were used to commit crimes.
Well, in Humza's defence, how was he supposed to know that people in prison for committing crimes were the kinds of people who'd commit crimes?
Enough Nokia phones were bought by the Scottish Prison Service to give every one of the approximately 7000 prisoners in custody two phones each. Why would they need a spare phone? Were they having an affair?
While it was £4.1m on the phones. (BTW, 7k prisoners, 2 phones each, 14k phones. £4.1m on 14k phones means it was £293 per phone – even I could have got them cheaper phones from the shop on the High Street that sells vapes.) The rest of the money was spent on boosting the phone signal so they could get clear reception on their free phones. This must be upsetting if you're living in Norfolk and you can't get more than one bar even if you wave your phone in the air. They'll be mad as soon as they manage to get enough signal to see the internet.
While the phones were restricted the problem was it was possible to swap out the sim card. Traditionally in prisons any mobile phones have to be smuggled in using nature's pocket. That's easier when all you have to do is cram a sim card up there.
The Nokia 8310 looks like it could go up there OK (£20.98 on eBay – I told you I could get a better deal) and the off-brand Zanco Tiny T1 (46.7mm x 21mm x 12mm) would be a pleasure. All of these plans hit a problem when you realise you need the charger and we have a three-pin plug in the UK.
There were more than 8000 security breaches, including drug deals, hit jobs and the fire-bombing of family homes.
So they scrapped the scheme to give prisoners free mobile phones. Instead they gave them free landlines into their cells. The thing that I begged my parents for and never got, the criminals now get for free.
This all took place when Humza Yousaf was justice secretary, so before Nicola Sturgeon resigned and her husband was arrested. It leaves you wondering, was this all long-term planning to make sure they could still stay in touch if the worst happened?
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