Overview
- Acaip‑UGT compiled the seizure tally and Interior Ministry sources corroborated the nationwide scope of the problem.
- In 2025 alone, officials confiscated 2,466 devices, averaging more than six per day in state-run facilities.
- Seizures are heaviest in Almería (756 over five years), Málaga (728) and Albolote (647), with Valdemoro (646) and Estremera (567) close behind.
- Phones enter via visitors, returning inmates and body concealment, with drone drops rising; many are tiny low-cost handsets while smartphones are increasingly common.
- Acaip warns the devices fuel black markets, debts and violence and enable criminal coordination from inside, urging modern jamming systems and reinforced staffing.