UK: large numbers of phones are being discovered in prisons, having been smuggled in

[lancashire evening post] Prison officers at Preston Prison seized 181 mobile phones or SIM cards last year.

New figures published by the Ministry of Justice have revealed that huge numbers of illicit phones are smuggled into prisons.

The number of phones or SIM cards seized and confiscated at HMP Preston shot up from 32 in 2007 to 181 in 2008 – equivalent to more than three seizures every week.

Similarly, 165 phones or SIM cards were seized at Garth Prison in Leyland during the past three years, including 87 last year.

A total of 146 phones were seized at HMP Kirkham in three years, although the figure was only 12 last year.

Access to a mobile phone can be pivotal for inmates attempting to continue their criminal enterprises while behind bars.

If someone has a secret phone they can run drugs operations and intimidate witnesses.

The figures include all phones discovered inside cells or during searches of inmates or their visitors.

However, prisons minister David Hanson admitted the figures understate the actual number of finds because they did not include phones retained by police for evidence reasons.

And in some instances, prisons did not send confiscated phones away for analysis, which meant they were not recorded in the figures either.

Number of mobile phones seized in prisons is rising