The number of prisoners caught using social media accounts behind bars has almost trebled, new figures have revealed.
Inmates have been heaping misery on victims and taunting the authorities by shamelessly accessing sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from their cells.
Convicts have sparked outrage by exploiting lax security to smuggle mobile phones into jails and then uploading photos and films to their accounts.
In November, HMP Guys Marsh, a category C training and resettlement prison in Dorset, hit the headlines when the Daily Mail published shocking pictures posted by partying inmates on Facebook which blew the lid on their cushy life behind bars
Critics said it was a damning indictment of a prison system awash with contraband including illicit mobile phones and drugs and racked with violence.
Ministers warned inmates caught breaking the rules could face an extra two years’ behind bars.
Figures released following a Freedom of Information request revealed the number of detected active accounts deleted by the Ministry of Justice had jumped from 133 in 2014 to 462 last year.
Up until the end of August this year, officials had already removed 364 accounts. In total, at least 1,112 social media accounts have been deactivated.
Justice Secretary David Lidington said: ‘The illicit use of mobile phones aids the committal of further crime and undermines the efforts of staff to make prisons safe. No form of criminal behaviour will be tolerated behind bars’
In November, HMP Guys Marsh, a category C training and resettlement prison in Dorset, hit the headlines when the Daily Mail published shocking pictures posted by partying inmates on Facebook which blew the lid on their cushy life behind bars.
Inmates bragged of feasting on steak dinners and takeaway fish and chips, downing alcohol and taking drugs, including cannabis and legal highs. Their cells were crammed with luxuries, including games consoles and stereos.
Last night Diana Fawcett, of charity Victim Support, said: ‘News that some prisoners have had access to social media accounts while serving their sentences will potentially be very distressing for victims.
‘The idea that they or their family and friends could be contacted by the perpetrator may leave them feeling very unsafe.
‘Even if the perpetrator isn’t directly contacting the victim, the fact that they may have access to personal information about them such as their whereabouts, photos, etc. could be very unnerving.
‘Victims should feel most safe when their perpetrator is serving their sentence and this news will potentially undermine victims’ confidence in the criminal justice system.’
Justice Secretary David Lidington said: ‘The illicit use of mobile phones aids the committal of further crime and undermines the efforts of staff to make prisons safe. No form of criminal behaviour will be tolerated behind bars.
‘Those who brazenly use phones to access social media websites heap further misery onto their victims and I am determined to continue the work of staff in doing all we can to put an end to such behaviour.
‘Staff across the country are taking unprecedented action to crack down on the use of mobile phones in prisons and this is yielding results, but we need to identify what more can be done to prevent access to such sites.’
Last year the MoJ set up the Digital Investigations Unit, which works with prisons to identify offenders accessing networking websites from their cells and shut them down quickly as possible.
The team, the first of its kind in the Prison Service, shares evidence gathered during investigations with law enforcement agencies so further action can be taken against offenders.
Experts also monitor closely social media websites when major incidents take place in prisons, such as riots, looking online for video and picture content that could be used to help prosecute perpetrators.
Successes include deactivating the accounts of Aidan Morrissey, who was jailed for 8 years 10 months in February for stabbing a man in a vicious attack.
Within 35 minutes of a picture of him in his cell emerging on Instagram, the account displaying the image was removed. His cell was searched within an hour and two mobile phones were recovered.
Ministers have also invested £2million in hi-tech measures to block signals in prisons and introduced new legislation to cut off mobile phones.
The Government is also working with the mobile network operators to do more, including developing new technological solutions, so phones do not work in prison.