NSW prison extends trial to jam phones

A phone-jamming trial at a central west NSW jail will be extended for three months.

The 12-month trial at the Lithgow Correctional Centre has stopped inmates using mobiles to organise crime and will now continue until the end of September.

The technology prevents mobiles inside the jail from connecting to a networked mobile phone tower, and is used in other countries including the US and New Zealand.

While it is illegal to operate, supply or possess jamming devices in Australia, NSW prison authorities received special approval from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for the trial.

"Mobile phone use by inmates is a significant problem both locally and internationally because of the threat it poses to the security of jails and the security of the community as some inmates try to continue to their criminal activities while locked up," said Attorney General and Minister for Justice Brad Hazzard in a statement on Wednesday.

Shutting down the use of smuggled phones by prisoners has long been a challenge for jailers.

It was recently revealed a Villawood Detention Centre detainee allegedly used mobile phones to orchestrate a cocaine racket from his cell.