DEADLY WEAPONS ARE AMONG ITEMS SMUGGLED INTO WINCHESTER PRISON

Drugs, mobile phones and deadly weapons are being smuggled into a
Hampshire prison.

Almost 200 contraband items – including 43 mobile phones – were seized at
Winchester Prison in 2007.

Following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Daily Echo it is the
first time confiscation figures have been released by the high security
jail and sheds light on the extent of drug dealing behind bars.

Drugs are clearly still at the top of many inmates "shopping lists". There
were more than 40 drug finds including cannabis (22), heroin (14), cocaine
(three), amphetamine (one) and a dose of barbiturates, a powerful
anaesthesia used in lethal injections.

Most stashes were found hidden in prisoners' mail and were confiscated for
police forensics.

A prison service spokeswoman said hand held phone blockers and body
orifice scanning chairs were being tested to disrupt the supply.

The revelation comes just one month after prison officer Luke Ryan was
jailed for seven years for smuggling cocaine, heroin and cannabis into the
jail.

The former police officer claimed he smuggled the drugs in December 2007
because inmates found out where he lived and threatened to have his
girlfriend beaten up.

Despite being asked for details of all items seized in Hampshire and Isle
of Wight jails in 2006 and 2007, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it
could not provide the figures.

Instead, the Government department released the information in a summary
form, claiming prison security arrangements could be put at risk.

Guards at Winchester Prison also seized "privileges" such as PlayStations
(three), stereos (seven), CDs and DVDs (seven) from inmates who had not
displayed good behaviour.

At the low-security Camp Hill Prison, on the Isle of Wight, there were 61
drug stashes, 86 mobiles, 32 SIM cards and four tattoo machines
confiscated over a two-year period.

The MoJ said it did not keep records on items seized from the Island's
other two jails, Albany and Parkhurst.

Liberal-Democrat home affairs spokesman and Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne said:
"There are better ways of dealing with addicts and minor offences, which
would ensure officers can keep mobile phones and drugs out of prisons.
Contraband checks are key."