NSW prisoners using illegal phones to post on social media

NSW inmates are using illegal phones to show off their lives behind bars – with Corrective Services launching an investigation into one who has dubbed himself the “prince of Parklea”.

NSW prisoners are boasting, joking and rapping on TikTok, starring in video clips while behind bars.

The cons have embraced social media within the state’s prison system, using illegally obtained phones to share their jailhouse lives and attract thousands of ­followers.

While it is both a criminal and correctional centre offence for an inmate to use or possess a mobile phone, some inmates don’t seem to care, with 94 devices seized so far this year.

From rapping to viral dance challenges and practical jokes, inmates are using social media from inside despite their posts meaning it is fairly simply to bust them for having a phone. One inmate has dubbed himself the “prince of Parklea” and regularly posts videos to TikTok with the caption “running amok in your jail”.

Inmate Kyle Richardson has amassed

11K followers for posting TikToks from jail.

Kyle Richardson has amassed more than 11,000 followers on the app, posting videos of himself in prison greens, remaking viral dance videos where his cell is clearly visible.

In another caption on a video featuring photos of himself in jail, he wrote “governor mad … still active” – seemingly referring to his use of a phone and social media.

A spokeswoman for Correctives Service NSW confirmed they were aware of the videos, and that an investigation was underway.

Child wakeboarding prodigy Richardson was jailed in January, after a high-speed crash on the M1, which badly injured his ­girlfriend.

The phones used to record and post these videos are more often than not smuggled into the prisons by visitors or inmates themselves. In 2020, 216 devices were removed from correctional centres, while less than 100 have been seized this year.

Another former inmate, who goes by the rap moniker Snoee Badman clocked thousands of likes on the app after he used a contraband mobile phone to film his music from inside his cell at Goulburn jail.

An inmate who goes by the rap name

“Snoee Badman” filmed TikToks and a music video while in jail.

In one video titled “bars behind bars” the inmate rapped to the camera, with the concrete walls of his tiny cell visible, as a faint backing track played in the background.

Since being released from custody, he has been open about his use of contraband phones in the maximum security prison, having recorded a full album while inside.

In NSW jails, specialist search teams – including trained mobile phone sniffer dogs – conduct frequent searches of visitors, vehicles and items entering correctional centres, as well as inmates’ cells and common areas. These measures are supported by intelligence gathering about potential mobile phone smuggling.

“Corrective Services NSW takes a zero-tolerance approach to contraband and is at the forefront of developing and implementing technologies to combat the extraordinary lengths inmates go to smuggle contraband mobile phones,” the Correctives spokeswoman said.

Phone-jamming technology is used at Lithgow Correctional Centre.

Just two jails in NSW use phone-jamming technology to stop inmates from using mobile devices. A jamming trial has been in place at Lithgow Correctional Centre since 2013, and makes inmates’ efforts to obtain and use contraband phones worthless because the phones themselves are not able to connect to the mobile network. The technology is also used at Goulburn Correctional Centre.

Shadow Correctives Minister Tara Moriarty said the program should be expanded to other prisons to tackle the issue.

“It’s ridiculous it hasn’t already been expanded,” she said.

“It’s one thing to be creating social media videos but what else are they doing with these phones.”

Originally published as NSW prisoners using illegal phones to post on social media