Drink, drugs and mobile phones are being carried into Ford Prison, near Arundel, in vast quantities, claims a former prisoner.

Convicts high on Class A drugs are said to be allowed access to knives in the kitchen and heavy machinery in the gardens.

Drug barons run the industry like a business, claims the exprisoner, James.

Prison bosses have said the drug problem is something they are taking seriously but James said it was not enough.

He returned to his East Sussex home earlier this month after serving more than two months behind bars, mostly at Ford.

He saw packages of contraband goods the size of laundry baskets, as well as heroin, being tossed over the fences to be picked up by convicts who had arranged drop-offs with banned mobile phones.

James, married with one child, said: "I had heard that you can get hold of anything in prison but during my first week some chap came in and asked, You don't look the type but do you smoke heroin?' I said no and he said, Well, if you do, or know someone who wants some, I have got plenty'.

"It's totally brazen and out in the open. It's a shock the way he came out with it. It's practically run like a business."

James, in his early thirties, added: "I am not naive. I have seen it before. It was the level of the problem, not the problem itself that was the eye-opener.

The sheer amount and the scale of it shocked me."

Ford prison is a category D open establishment with an emphasis on resettlement.

The former Fleet Air Arm station was converted into an open prison in 1960. Its prisoners live in single or shared rooms but spend most of their time out of their cells.

James said: "You don't have people standing around dealing it out but there's plenty of it gets in. One guy on our billet was a big user of heroin and puff.

"People use it in their rooms, at lunch and on breaks. A number of people use it at lunchtimes.

If you have got people high on heroin at lunchtime it could cause certain issues. People high on drugs could be using knives in the kitchen."

Guards carry out random drug tests on inmates, concentrating on known users but heroin can pass through the body in less than 48 hours.

James said: "People throw packs over the fences or leave packs outside and you get runners who go to collect them.

"We're not talking shoe boxes. One I saw was a laundry basket size full of booze, drugs and mobile phones.

"The perimeter fence by the billets isn't exactly what you would call secure. There's a gate on to the football pitch and it's an open prison quite literally.

They have out of bounds notes on the grass areas by the fence but a lot of people in prison don't really abide by rules.

"The guards do what they can but Ford has a low number of officers and it's not enough."

One of James' friends overdosed the day after he was released, having been using heroin while at Ford. His sister sent a letter to the prison, informing inmates of their friend's premature death.

"The guy who received the letter was really quite upset by it but it was almost as if it was expected because he was on it so much while he was at Ford,"

added James.

Prison governor Fiona Radford said the abuse of illicit drugs was something she took seriously. During the past six months she has employed a new dog handler and two drug dogs, which she said had proved successful.

She added: "Staff here are alive to the issue and vigilant.

We carry out regular physical patrols to catch people in possession of illicit drugs."