A SHOCK new report has revealed that Britains prisons have been flooded with illegally held mobile phones.

The report by HM Prisons Service claimed that one in every 23 inmates had access to mobiles, which are strictly forbidden inside jails.

Inspectors said the number of phones and SIM cards seized by warders had risen by almost 40 per cent in the last two years from 2,248 in 2006 to 3,606 last year.

Hard-pressed prison officers said the illicit trade in mobiles had rocketed after the black market price of phones fell from £500 to £200 per handset.

With the current prison population standing at 83,000 and still rising there is estimated to be one phone for every 23 inmates.

The warder said: "What happens if theres a riot or an escape being planned? They can talk to accomplices on the outside and talk to each other if theres a riot going on.

"Its a really worrying development. Then theres the drugs trade. These people are carrying on as if theyre still on the street.

"Lets face it, its not as if the phones have just been bought in to call the folks back home.

"Part of the reason that they want mobiles is so they arent monitored like they are when they use jail phones.

"You can tell there are so many of them about by how much theyre costing these days. Its just a question of supply and demand.

"Six months ago mobiles were changing hands for £300 for a basic handset and £500 for one with a camera.

"Now theyre as little as £200 for an all-singing handset. They dont cost that much more than in the shops on the high street."

There are fears some prisoners are using mobiles to continue directing criminal operations on the outside and in some cases intimidate witnesses.

The revelations are even more shocking because the prison service tightened up the rules three months ago.

Up until April this year it was only against jail rules for a prisoner to possess a mobile phone.

But the new Offender Management Act has made it a criminal offence to either possess or smuggle a mobile phone into a prison, punishable by up to two years.

The warder claimed the main reason for prisoners smuggling mobiles into jails was to make it easier for dealers outside to throw drugs over the walls.

He said: "Youve got the throwers and the people inside talking to each other right up until the time that the packets are lobbed up in the air and over the wall.

"They make sure the stuff is thrown into blind spots where there arent any staff and can be picked up without being spotted. When theyre in communication it makes it easy."

A spokesman for HM Prisons said they were trying to tackle the growing use of phones with a three-pronged attack.

This included stopping phones getting into prisons, finding the ones that have been smuggled in and introducing jamming systems that makes the phones useless.

"Joke"

The problem has become so bad at one jail - Londons notorious Pentonville - that warders have nicknamed it 'The Carphone Warehouse'.

Up to half the prisoners transferred from Pentonville to other jails had phones confiscated when they were moved.

One warder at the jail, who did not want to be named, said: "There are so many phones in here its become a joke - although its a bad one.

"For every mobile we find we know that there are at least a couple we dont. Prisons are literally awash with them."

Top of the prison list of shame is HMP Highpoint in Suffolk where the number of phones seized rose from 81 in 2006 to 231 last year.

Wormwood Scrubs in London just pipped Pentonville into second place. Warders found 197 illegal phones there last year and 195 in Pentonville.