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Both are suspicious circumstances, but this is more to target people taking phones into prisons concealed as something else.

Person taking car keys into the visiting room: not suspicious.

You get stripped of all metal when you enter visiting rooms in UK prisons.

I suspect it would be to do with spotting visitors bringing in illicit mobile phones not prisoners.

Prisoner with car keys: not useful. Prisoner with a phone: useful.

You can stab people with keys. I have a VW flick key. Sharpen it up, and its a great little weapon.

You can stab people with almost anything. Toothbrush, piece of paper carefully folded, shoelaces melted into a soap mould... stopping one more thing getting in won't matter.

I think the idea was to make it easier to notice them, as parent suggested.

It is not hard to notice an RF transmitter. If the police thinks their size matters in any way, they completely missed the point.

so we should just give them knives since they will just find a way around not having one anyway?