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A reply to a DA parliamentary question from the Minister of Correctional Services, Mike Masutha, reveals that the department is losing the battle against crime in prisons after it reported the confiscation of 98 413 illegal communication devices from inside prisons in the past five years.
The use of illegal communications devices in prisons makes detention facilities conduits for the direct coordination of crimes in communities, particularly gang activity.
In the past five financial years, of the 98 413 devices a total of 64 123 cellular devices have been confiscated from remand detainees and convicted prisoners. Other communication devices include: sim cards, chargers and DSTV walkers.
In the face of such high volume of illegal communications devices in prisons, it is astonishing that interventions such as signal jamming technology are not already in use in prisons.
While the eventual detection of these devices is laudable, prevention is always better than cure – prison officials are clearly failing in this respect as well.
I will therefore write to Minister Masutha to request that he accelerate the procurement of signal jamming devices to be placed in each and every prison in our country. Convicted inmates make use of these communication devices to handle smuggled goods and direct their criminal activities outside our prisons.
If we can use signal jammers in Parliament why not in Pollsmoor?
See table for a breakdown of devices found:
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
1 April 2015 up to 31 May 2015
Total devices: Remand detainees
2899
4276
7238
10399
9394
13119
2498
Type and quantity of communication devices confiscated from remand detainees:
Cell phones
1712
2908
4808
6722
6167
8482
1693
SIM Cards
1187
1368
2422
3665
3214
4616
792
DSTV Walker device
0
0
0
2
2
5
0
Chargers
0
0
8
10
10
12
13
Cell phone watch
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
Memory cards
0
0
0
0
1
2
0
Memory sticks (usb)
0
0
0
0
1
0
Total devices:
Convicted Inmates
1191
2865
5479
7594
11976
15482
4003
Type and quantity of communication devices confiscated from convicted inmates:
Cell phones
767
2071
3614
5227
8070
9447
2430
SIM Cards
346
673
1677
2100
3395
5486
1475
DSTV Walker device
0
0
0
1
11
4
2
Chargers
0
0
0
0
8
28
3
Cell phone watch
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Memory sticks
3
8
11
4
6
3
3
Memory cards
72
99
173
259
475
486
89
Cellphone battery
0
0
0
0
4
7
0
Modem
3
3
4
3
3
2
1
Drifter
0
0
0
0
3
19
0
Bank cards
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
Hard drive
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
Issued by DA
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