TWO SEPARATE investigations are under way after a prisoner was discovered updating his page on a social networking website from his cell using a smuggled mobile phone.
The incident took place in Limerick Prison and involved remand prisoner Liam Keane (23), Singland Gardens, Ballysimon, Limerick.
Two weeks ago, during the course of searches in Limerick Prison, staff found a mobile phone in Keane's cell. An investigation was begun by the prison authorities. Pending the outcome Keane was punished with loss of privileges.
The phone was passed on to gardaí, who began their own investigation.
Possession of a mobile phone in prison is a criminal offence which has attracted custodial sentences in some recent cases.
A number of images of Keane appear on his page on the popular Bebo secial networking site. At least one was apparently taken on a mobile phone in a prison cell. One of the images of Keane was visible on the site yesterday.
The Irish Prison Service confirmed a phone had been found in a cell and had been passed to gardaí for analysis. A further search of Keane's cell was carried out yesterday morning but no contraband was found.
That search took place following a media report yesterday suggesting Keane had used a mobile phone to update his Bebo page from jail, where he does not have internet access.
The prison service spokesman said he could not comment on the specifics of the case.
However, he said the discovery of mobile phones in the prison system underlined the need for the airport-style security checks for every person entering and leaving the prison currently being introduced.
The spokesman said technology to block mobile phone signals in jails had been piloted in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise and was close to being introduced in all prisons.
Informed sources said it was unclear whether Keane was accessing the site himself via the phone from prison or if he was taking pictures and texting them to a friend, who uploaded them to the website.
"The phone is still being analysed but we think it's more likely he was texting pictures and messages to somebody on the outside who was updating the Bebo page," said one source.
Keane, a nephew of Limerick gangland murder victim Kieran Keane, has been on remand since the beginning of May on firearms charges.
He is charged with having a Glock pistol and 13 rounds of 9mm ammunition at Athlunkard Road, Corbally, Limerick, on May 4th last.