MOSCOW, October 31 - RAPSI. The number of successful escapes from investigative isolation wards has dropped five-fold from 2010, Federal Penitentiary Service official Valery Boyarinev told journalists on Wednesday.

"After installing integrated security systems in investigative isolation wards, there were only two escapes in 2012 compared with 10 in 2010," he said.

He added that the two escapes actually occurred when the prisoners were taken to the hospital.

Boyarinev said the integrated security systems also combat the use of mobile phones, which are prohibited in the wards. He said the systems have devices that prevent mobile communications. Over 7,000 mobile phones were seized from such wards in the first nine months of the year.

In most cases (67.4 percent), the prisoners tried to bring a mobile phone into their ward while being transferred.