The IFP calls on the Department of Correctional Services to implement more
stringent measures in the fight against smuggling of dangerous weapons,
drugs and cell phones into prisons.

IFP Spokesperson on Correctional Services, Mr Velaphi Ndlovu, MP said, "This
issue implicates some officials and visitors in criminal activities.
Visitors should be properly searched and monitored to ensure that they do
not pass along any contraband. Their food parcels must be scanned before
they are given to inmates in order to ensure that no items are hidden within
the food. These illegal items pose a threat to the security of other
prisoners and prison warders."

From inmate attacks to drug sales the prisons no longer seem capable of
deterring criminal activity. Correctional Services needs to facilitate
rehabilitation instead of being a festering ground for more sophisticated
criminal activities.

"The recent prison violence in Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, where an
inmate was stabbed 21 times is a grave wake up call to the government.
Pollsmoor prison management must also find a way to disband the operations
of gangs in this prison as they breed a culture of violence even within the
prison walls. And any official found to have been involved in the smuggling
in of weapons must not only be dismissed but must also face the full might
of the law," said Ndlovu.