Spice, booze and weapons were all confiscated from prisoners in jails across Merseyside and North Wales in 2021.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Justice, instances of new psychoactive substances known as Spice being found are growing in most prisons.
The ECHO asked the Ministry of Justice for a list of illicit items found in inmates' cells in HMP Liverpool, HMP Altcourse and Wrexham prison HMP Berwyn - where a number of Liverpool inmates are housed.
We asked the government body to provide figures for the last three years - but their data for 2021 only reaches the first three months.
Despite the short time frame covered, the data already shows that instances of certain drugs including spice are up compared to the previous year.
For example, HMP Berwyn recorded 54 times, in three months, that drugs were confiscated from prisoners, that’s up from 13 times in the same time period of 2020.
This is what we found from the Ministry of Justice's response:
Altcourse
At Altcourse , a Category B men's prison in Fazakerley, figures shared with the ECHO reveal that in the first three months of 2021 incidents with psychoactive substances (sometimes known as Spice) decreased from 21 to 16, when compared to the same three months of 2020.
However both figures are up compared to the same three months in 2019 which shows nine incidents.
There were also 49 recordings of cannabis being found, three of cocaine, five for heroin, two for steroids, and eight that are described as an unknown/other substance.
Worryingly, the five recordings in 2021 are up from no recorded cases for the same three months in 2020.
Similarly the first three months of the year uncovered 61 mobile phones, down from 122, and 97 sim cards, up from 77.
There were also 26 occasions where chargers were found and three other mobile phone related items were discovered.
By the end of March 2021, prison officers also unearthed 21 weapons including blades, compared to 42 in the same period in 2020.
Instances where alcohol was found to be in use was up from three to five.
In HMP Liverpool, the Category B/C facility located in Walton, incidents including psychoactive substances were up to 10 from just two in the first three months of 2020.
For the first three months of the year in HMP Liverpool, police recorded 19 cannabis recoveries, two cocaine, and one LSD.
No recoveries of steroids, heroin or amphetamines were recorded.
There were six instances where alcohol was found within the prison in three months.
By the end of March 2021, figures revealed the uncovering of 19 mobile phones and 13 sim cards.
And while down from 22 discoveries last year, a staggering 13 weapons were still found at the start of the year.
HMP Berwyn
Wrexham prison HMP Berwyn, where a number of Liverpool inmates are housed, recorded 37 incidents where weapons were found, which is more than HMP Liverpool and Altcourse.
This is down from 60 recorded incidents in the first three months of 2020.
Higher than both Altcourt and HMP Liverpool, Berwyn has recorded 54 instances of a psychoactive substance, sometimes known by the street name spice, being found within three months.
There were five cases of amphetamines being confiscated, 22 for cannabis, four for cocaine, two heroin and 22 other or unknown substances.
Figures also revealed a massive 62 episodes with alcohol in the first three months of the year, up from 51 last year.
From January to March 2021, 47 mobile phones were found in comparison to 61 the same time the previous year and 40 sim cards compared to 56 in 2020.
