Prisons in Ireland are contending with a new form of phone, one that’s disguised as a key fob.
Traditional key fobs are used to electronically open car doors. The key-fob phones are the same size and weight as conventional fobs, and have even been manufactured with the trademark logos of major vehicle companies.
On the one side, they look like regular fobs containing buttons to lock or unlock car doors.
But the opposite side contains a miniature keyboard found on push-button mobile phones. The fobs function as phones, with SIM cards and batteries designed to fit.
Prison officials have in recent months found a number of phone fobs in prisoner’s cells.