Three prisoners found with mobile phones during searches in Dublin prisons have each been sentenced to one month for the offence.
The term of imprisonment in each case will be served concurrently to sentences already being served, meaning they will not spend any extra time in prison.
The three, who were sentenced yesterday at Cloverhill District Court, Dublin, are believed to be the first prisoners to be imprisoned under new legislation introduced at the start of the summer targeted at the illegal use of smuggled mobile phones in jails.
Six other prisoners appeared before the court yesterday to answer similar charges. However, all had their cases adjourned to next month.
Jonathan Burke (30), Bray, Co Wicklow, was sentenced to one month after the court heard he was found in possession of a telephone when his cell at Cloverhill Prison was searched in May. Burke, who has 43 previous convictions, is serving a four-month sentence for burglary and is due for release from that sentence in October.
The one-month sentence was back- dated to last Wednesday, August 8th, when he first appeared in court to answer the charges.
Conor Murphy (25), Edgeworth Lawn, Dublin, was found with a mobile phone when his cell was searched in Wheatfield Prison, Dublin, on July 1st. Judge Hugh O'Neill was told the phone was being used by Murphy to contact his family.
The court was also told that while Murphy was serving four years for drug-related offences he had never been in prison before. He had already lost remission and other privileges as a result of being caught with the phone.
Judge O'Neill sentenced him to one month's imprisonment, backdated to August 8th. Murphy is not due for release until March 2011 from his original sentence for drug possession.
Andrius Ogorodnikas (27), Hunters Run, Clonee, Co Meath, was found with a mobile phone at Cloverhill Prison while in the recreation yard on June 9th. The court was told that Ogorodnikas, a Lithuanian national, had brought the phone into the prison himself.
He has nine previous convictions and is serving a sentence for public order offences from which he is due for release in October. He was imprisoned for one month for possessing the phone, backdated to August 8th.
Five of the six other men before the courts yesterday for possessing phones in prison will appear before Cloverhill District Court on September 14th.
Gerard Cully (21), Casement Grove, Finglas, Dublin, also had his case adjourned until September 7th. He was found with a phone in Cloverhill. The court was told he was using it to contact his girlfriend who had recently given birth to their child.
Cully, who is in custody for his role in an assault, became addicted to alcohol aged 15, the judge was told, and within a year had developed a heroin addiction. Judge O'Neill was also told that Cully was working on overcoming his addictions and because of this was asking the court that he not be sent to Mountjoy. He agreed to adjourn for three weeks.