Makeshift blades, a bong made from a deodorant container, and a variety of mobile phones may never have made it inside Canberra's jail if guards were granted stronger powers, a senior prison official said.
At a media event displaying some of the contraband seized from inmates, Alexander Maconochie Centre intelligence supervisor Peter Robertson said banned items were often smuggled inside visitors.
"A lot of the items we see here, as far as phones, technology, whether small or large, can be introduced within the human body," he said.
"Just because it's a large item doesn't discount that avenue.
"It's very common."
Mr Robertson said currently guards were not able to search visitors they suspected of carrying contraband into the prison.
"We can only work within the confines of the policies and legislation," he said.
"We can't use physical force to search a visitor, so if we have suspicion of contraband coming in all we can do is suspend their visit for the day or for a period of time.
"An item which isn't picked up by standard detection systems, we have no way of finding it ... other than finding it retrospectively once it's been passed into a detainee's possession.
"Stronger powers would be fantastic."
But Corrections Minister Shane Rattenbury said visits from family members were an important part of prison life, and families should not be discouraged from visiting.
"It is a very fine balance getting this right, because we're talking about people coming to visit with children, we've got grandparents coming to visit.
"Whether we want to be authorising physical body inspections of children, grandparents, loved ones, that is a really tricky question.
"I'd be reluctant to go to a point where we're actually discouraging people from coming to visit their family at the jail."
Over the past year guards conducted 7,000 searches, seizing more than 700 contraband items in the process.
