Organised crime fears as number of phones found in prisons doubles

At least 20,000 mobile phones and SIM cards were discovered in prisons last year – more than double the number recorded two years earlier.

The proliferation of handsets in jails has been linked to drugs and organised crime, while some inmates have used the devices to film themselves and post videos on websites such as Facebook.

Liz Truss, the Justice Secretary, has announced new measures to crack down on their use, including giving prisons power to jam phone signals.

But David Hanson, the Labour former justice minister who uncovered the latest figures in a parliamentary question, urged tougher action.

At least 20,075 mobile phones and SIM, USB or media cards were found in prisons in 2016, according to the Ministry of Justice numbers.

This is up around a fifth (18 per cent) on the 16,987 that were found the year before, and more than double the 9,745 in 2014.

The Ministry of Justice cautioned against drawing direct comparisons with the numbers as a new and “enhanced” incident reporting regime was introduced in October 2015 which “allowed better recording of the number of mobile phones and SIM cards found”.

But Mr Hanson said the figures showed that an “astounding number of mobile phones are now washing through our prison system”.

He added: “Each one of these phones and SIM cards enables criminals to gain access to the outside world, empowering them to undertake further criminal activity.”

Sam Gyimah, the prisons minister, said the Government had brought in tough measures to find and confiscate phones.