Drugs being smuggled into prisons is an ever increasing problem. Reporter Dani Webb visited Holme House Prison, in Stockton, to see how the issue is being tackled.

HAVING been searched on arrival at Holme House and banned from taking in my mobile phone, it is hard to believe that drugs could be smuggled into the premises.

But after talking to some of the officers, I began to realise some of these prisoners are more intelligent than people give them credit for.

Over the past 12 months, there have been 175 discoveries of drugs in the Category B prison, but the officers are the first to admit there are many more which are not found.

Yesterday's visit came on the same day that a 38-year-old man was jailed for four months for trying to smuggle the Class C drug Subutex into Holme House for a friend.

Neil Pallister, of High Street, Redcar - a prison regular himself - was caught after being spotted acting suspiciously at the prison on October 25.

He dropped a package containing white tablets when he realised he was being watched, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Pallister, who has 86 previous offences on his record, had a £100-a-day amphetamine habit at one time.

Nigel Soppitt, in mitigation, said: "It was a fairly simple offence. Those trained to observe, observed him very easily, and quickly caught him red-handed."

The ongoing campaign to tackle the smuggling is largely led by intelligence, but officers were understandably reluctant to reveal their precise methods for catching people out.

Pete Walker, head of security at the prison, said: "Prison is a community within a community.

"We are not working in isolation in the prison, we have a lot of support agencies and we are continuing to use the technology available to tackle the problem."

Jane Brewis, security manager at the prison, added: "Drugs are a big problem in prison and they have an effect on everyone, not just the prisoners.

"The criminal activity they will engage in to get drugs is mind-blowing and they are quite resourceful in their ways."

One common method used to get drugs into the prison is by inserting them into tennis balls, which are then thrown over the walls.

As I look around the buildings, it soon becomes clear the extent to which some of the 994 prisoners will go to get their fix.

Every visitor is searched as they enter the premises and no one is allowed to take in bags, mobile phones or even pushchairs.

Over the past 12 months, 30 mobile phones have been taken off visitors and prisoners, 40 arrests have been made, 146 visitors have been banned for varying lengths after smuggling in forbidden items and others have been forced to visit people from behind screens.

Yet help is on hand, as Holme House is one of only five prisons in the country to run a 12-month drug rehabilitation programme.

The Therapeutic Community course provides inmates with a chance to live a life free of drugs.

One of the prisoners, who is serving a lengthy sentence for robbery and firearms offences, admitted that he would always be a drug addict but that the programme has given him a chance.

He said: "There are drugs in jail, let's not lie about it, but there are people who genuinely want to stop taking drugs and I am a different person to who I was.