More than 200 kilograms of drugs and 13,000 mobile phones and 7,000 sim cards were found in prisons last year, as the Government admitted the situation was "unacceptable".

Prisons minister Sam Gyimah said the problem would not be resolved quickly but praised the efforts of staff to tackle the problems and highlighted the Government's recruitment drive to boost officer numbers.

Ministry of Justice figures showed 225kg of drugs were recovered across the prison estate in England and Wales in 2016.

The ministry said seizing mobiles and sim cards helps to stop inmates continuing to plot further crimes from behind bars.

The Government said a £2m investment in technology to detect phones and 300 specialist dogs trained to find drugs had helped recover the illegal items.


Image: Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah says more needs to be done

Mr Gyimah admitted more needed to be done to tackle the problem and that there was a need to recruit more prison officers.

He said: "I have been clear that the current levels of violence, drugs and mobile phones in our prisons is unacceptable.

"We have put in place a number of measures to help disrupt this illegal activity as it is an issue I am absolutely determined to resolve.

"These figures highlight the determination of prison staff to disrupt this behaviour, whilst at the same time sending a clear message that we will push to prosecute anyone who involves themselves in this kind of activity.

"The issues within our prisons will not be resolved overnight, but we must make progress in tackling these problems. Bringing in more frontline staff is an integral part of that.

"The number of prison officers in post is on the rise, meaning we are on track to achieving the recruitment of 2,500 officers by 2018."