A sheriff has noted a worrying rise in the number of people willing to risk strict penalties to smuggle illicit drugs into Perth Prison.
Instances had waned in the face of tough sentences imposed from the bench at Perth Sheriff Court.
However, at the court on Wednesday Sheriff Lindsay Foulis expressed concern that the problem was once more on the rise.
He spoke out as he jailed a tearful mum of two from Fife, who was stopped as she attempted to take a small package of heroin to her husband, a serving prisoner.
Stacey Wilson was spotted by suspicious prison staff as she attended during visiting hours on June 25 this year.
A search revealed a small wrap of the class A drug hidden within her clothing.
The 25-year-old immediately admitted that she had bought the drug for £10 with the intention of passing it to her partner.
The court heard that the drugs had a value nearer £35 on the street but possibly as much as £200 in the prison.
Unemployed Wilson, of Seaton Court in Kennoway, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin, saying that her partner had been calling her for weeks, saying that he had been “struck off” his prescription and was “in need”.
Her solicitor said she had “stupidly given in” and agreed to supply him with heroin a decision for which she was “genuinely sorry”.
The agent added that her client had a limited record and asked the court to consider an alternative to custody, given the small amount of drugs, the pressure she had been under and her two young children.
Sheriff Foulis, however, said: “For the significant period of time I have sat on this bench, the taking of drugs into prison has been a problem.
“A very strict line has been taken by the bench and the matter seemed to have fallen away.
“In recent months these matters seem to have arisen again. I think it is important that the court take the line previously adopted.”
He told Wilson: “With all due respect, your circumstances are no different to many others who appear before me.”
The accused was jailed for four months.
Recent figures released by the Scottish Prison Service showed that the number of inmates within Perth Prison found in possession of drugs had spiked during 2013/14 after three years of decline.