The number of staff bringing banned items into jails has risen by 58% since 2012, figures reveal.
Last year 71 prison staff were caught smuggling goods into the jails where they worked, compared with 45 in 2012, according to official data obtained by the Observer newspaper.
The Ministry of Justice figures show in the last six years more than 340 people have undergone disciplinary or judiciary proceedings for bringing in drugs, mobile phones or other contraband items.
Commenting on the data, Centre of Social Justice director Andy Cook said the level of smuggling was "concerning" and ministers needed to "get a grip".
"Drugs are at the heart of this, fuelling violence, suicide and completely undermining the likelihood that prisoners will be able to turn their lives around," he said.
Drugs were found 35 times a day in prisons in England and Wales last year, and the number of finds has trebled since 2014, the paper reported.
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice in July revealed that the number of drugs found in English and Welsh prisons rose by 23% last year, and that one in five inmates tested positive for illegal substances in random tests.
They also showed a 15% rise in finds of mobile phones and a 13% increase in sim cards.
The figures for the year between March 2017 and March 2018 also revealed that 20.4% of drug tests came back as positive – with the psychoactive substance spice, nicknamed "the zombie drug", found in 60% of these cases.
The poor state of UK prisons was thrown into stark relief last month when the Ministry of Justice was forced to take over HMP Birmingham after G4S, the security firm contracted to run it, conceded it could not get the jail under control.
One inmate told Sky News the "prisoners are in control of that jail" and drugs and violent incidents were a constant threat.
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"It's full of mobile phones – it's a disgrace," he said.
"As soon as you walk on the wing, you'll get googled – now how the f*** are you getting googled in jail from a mobile phone anyway?"
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