An inmate locked-up inside the Alexander Maconochie Centre was found hoarding photos of other criminals' children, prison search records reveal.
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A cell search in June this year uncovered the photos, with guards immediately confiscating the pictures after they made the menacing discovery.
![A flat-head screwdriver, a sharpened toothbrush, and a tennis ball with a hole in it - items of contraband seized by guards at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Photo: Sitthixay Ditthavong A flat-head screwdriver, a sharpened toothbrush, and a tennis ball with a hole in it - items of contraband seized by guards at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Photo: Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/3accfb17-d6c3-46bd-b785-fda38cdae43c/r0_0_2000_1333_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The search was performed by the prison's incident response team, suggesting the photos were found in a targeted raid rather than one of the many routine cell inspections conducted every day.
A spokeswoman for the Justice and Community Safety Directorate did not comment further on how the photos made their way inside the prison or the consequences of the find.
The search records illustrate the daily battle to keep on top of contraband flooding into the prison, and the disturbing, dangerous and downright bizarre items that inmates are sneaking inside.
One search found a frozen fish had been hidden in a female detainee's room by other inmates in an attempt to fill it with a rotten stench.
"Un-wrapped frozen fish was found in this detainee's room," guards wrote.
"Other detainees in the unit placed it behind her desk to impair her room."
The search records also showed that the cell shared by a notorious bikie was targeted after guards received intelligence suggesting he had been using a mobile phone.
The phone was not recovered in the search, although a syringe was found in the cell.
Another routine cell search found a razor blade and a stash of 144 condoms inside a detainee's room.
Condoms are often used to wrap drugs and other contraband before it is stashed in a body cavity and secreted into the facility.
An entire unit of the prison was searched on a single day in February 2016 as part of a targeted crackdown on computer magazines, the search records showed.
A spokeswoman for the justice directorate said these magazines were a "security risk" because they could teach inmates how to access unauthorised websites.
"While detainees have access to computers, only a limited number of sites are 'whitelisted' for use and detainees may only contact authorised family and friends through the prison email system," she said.
"IT magazines are prohibited things as they may allow detainees to learn to access sites that are not 'whitelisted'.
"Accessing sites that are not 'whitelisted' as well as unauthorised content contained on a USB may, among other things, lead to the re-victimisation of victims or enable detainees to commit further offences."
A justice directorate spokeswoman said guards had conducted 1667 individual searches between September and November this year.
"Seized items included drugs, USBs, mobile phones, smoking implements, and tattoo equipment," she said.
The most recent government figures showed the average daily number of prisoners inside the Alexander Maconochie Centre in 2016 was 445.
This was an increase of 95 per cent since 2010, when the average daily number of prisoners was 228.
As of late December there were about 450 detainees inside the prison.