by Alan McGuinness

Prisoners at Rochester Young Offenders’ Institution have been given telephones inside their cells as part of a pilot scheme.

Inmates must set up a personal account which is accessed by a PIN and prison authorities must be given a list of the names, addresses and phone numbers of the people they wish to call for approval.

According to the Daily Mail calls are monitored and recorded, although there is no limit on the number of calls that can be made.

The institution is home to about 600 men aged 18-21 who have been sentenced to up to four years behind bars.

They have been warned against saying anything linked to crime, escape plans, threats or coded messages.

They must buy credit to use the phones. Calls to landlines cost 9p a minute and 20p a minute to mobiles.

Inmates can also have televisions in their cells for £1 a week while those given “enhanced” status for good behaviour are allowed PlayStation consoles from home and can sleep on their own bedding.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that this was being reviewed and that it was “crucial that these incentives are appropriately earned and that they have credibility with the public.”

On the telephone scheme, they added: “This pilot will be evaluated and the results considered along with the other benefits associated with the incentives scheme.”