91Èȱ¬

Every day, at least one illegal mobile is found in Europe's largest prison, Wandsworth. The black market trade in mobile phones smuggled behind bars across the UK is worth £9m, according to David Jamieson, Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board HMP, appointed by the Government to observe and report on Wandsworth prison.

With well over 7,000 illicit phones found in UK prisons over the last year, David claims that smuggled mobiles are at their highest figure ever. He estimates that £1m worth of drugs is being trafficked through illegal prison mobile phones every year at Wandsworth. That figures rises to an estimated £100 million across jails nationally.

Last week, the Queen's speech outlined new measures to toughen legislation, which already outlaws smuggling phones into prisons. However, phones continue to be smuggled in at an increasing rate. The phones offer convicts a means of continuing to commit crimes whilst locked up.

David asks why more is not being done to clamp down on this illegal activity on Inside Out tonight, Monday 23 November, on 91Èȱ¬ One at 7.30pm.

Andrew Wanogho was assassinated on a street in Lewisham by a direct order from a convicted prisoner using a mobile phone illegally smuggled into prison. Elsewhere, smuggled mobiles are being used to negotiate drug deals from behind bars, says David Jamieson, who advises the Government on the big issues affecting HMP Wandsworth.

Colin Moses, National Chairman of the Prison Officers Association, is also concerned: "The trading of drugs in prisons is a business and, when we put people in prison for trading drugs outside, prison should be the place where we can stop them, not for them to make arrangements for drugs to be brought into prisons. That's why mobile phones are so dangerous in prisons."

And the scale of the problem may be worse than the figures show. An ex-prisoner from HMP Wandsworth told the programme: "For every phone that gets found, there is like two, three more."

It's not just friends and partners of prisoners who are prepared to risk smuggling in the phones, either. Earlier this year, former prison officer Kelly-Anne McDade and Patricia Ollivierre, a prison officer from Wormwood Scrubs, were both found guilty of mobile phone smuggling in two separate cases.

But what can be done to reduce the problem? Many prisons are surrounded by mobile phone masts as the land surrounding them can often be relatively cheap. Technology can provide mobile phone blockers or special security scanners that would pick up smuggled phones but installation has a cost implication and budgets are already stretched.

David Jamieson has recommended to the Government that all prisons implement the technology. He feels the situation is becoming increasingly urgent, and Colin Moses agrees: "If we want to stop mobile phones, we have to put more resources into prison. If we really want to stop them, we have to resource it. Currently, there doesn't seem to be a will by Government to stop mobile phones."

Inside Out is on 91Èȱ¬ One at 7.30pm on Monday 23 November (London area only) and 91Èȱ¬ iPlayer.

91Èȱ¬ London Publicity