Jails are ‘awash’ with cell phones

Mobile phones and SIM cards have been found in cells at Manchester jail an average of once every other day, the Government has admitted.

Officers discovered 43 handsets and 83 SIM cards had been smuggled into the prison during the last financial year. That means one in ten lags had the potential to make contact with the outside world, although the true scale of the problem is likely to be far greater.

The Liberal Democrats used the records, which were released in parliament, to claim that prisons were out of control.

David Howarth, Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, said: “These figures clearly show that our prison system is awash with illicit mobile phones.

“The ready availability of mobiles and drugs are a clear indication of how our prisons are out of control.

“Hardworking staff do an excellent job in difficult circumstances but their capabilities are stretched by the Government’s obsession with putting record numbers of people behind bars.”

Nationally, 4,132 mobile phones and 4,352 Sim cards were seized in prisons in England and Wales in 2008/09, up by 310% on 2006.