Prisoners in Perth have been stashing home-made alcohol, illicit SIM cards and phones and even a replica gun in their cells.
New figures show hundreds of contraband items were seized over the last three years.
The haul included 880 mobile phone SIM cards. Officers also recovered 796 prison-issue mobile phones which had been tampered with.
Other banned items found in Perth Prison cells included metal bars and a metal pole with a 20-metre line attached.
The list also includes syringes, a hollowed-out book intended to conceal a phone, scissors, Xboxes, a Wi-fi router, USB sticks, a pornography DVD and a Freeview box.
The Scottish Prison Service says it reports all breaches to the police.
But Scottish Tories say the eye-opening collection is “deeply concerning”.
They obtained the records in a Freedom of Information request to the Scottish Prison Service.
It comes after The Courier revealed convicted Gleneagles Hotel armed robber Liam Richardson was caught with a Wi-Fi enabled Xbox in his cell at Perth Prison.
Richardson helped steal watches worth more than £500,000 from the luxury Perthshire hotel.
Holyrood phones policy questioned as Perth Prison haul revealed
Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “I’m sure staff at the prison will be doing all they can to try to clamp down on items being brought in. But the amount of finds just shows the lengths some inmates will go to in order to have these items.”
He added: ““Of course, some of these items could well have been passed on from inmate to inmate. But it seems they will still have been smuggled into Perth Prison at some point.”
Mr Fraser linked the high number of mobile phones to the Scottish Government’s decision to issue prisoners with devices at the start of the Covid pandemic.
It has since emerged that the phones were misused more than 7,000 times, with prisoners inserting illicit SIM cards to make unapproved calls.
He said he was also alarmed by some of the other objects on the list, including a metal pole with a 20-metre line attached.
“That must have been put together for the purpose of being used as a weapon,” he said.
“These finds demonstrate the difficulties faced by prison staff in dealing with this issue.”
Prison bosses defend Perth record
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “We deploy a variety of strategic, tactical and technological responses to mitigate against illicit items such as mobile phones being introduced in the prison estate.
“We continue to invest in the development of new technology to detect, deter and reduce their availability and supply in what is a continuously evolving and dynamic area.
“Instances where illicit articles are recovered are reported to Police Scotland.”
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