Media Statement: Correctional Services Committee Calls for Implementation of Existing Plans to Curb Proliferation of Contraband in Correctional Centres

The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services has urged the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to implement immediate strategies in place to curb the alarming rising tide of contraband in correctional facilities.

The committee heard that to date more than 41 000 cellphones and well over 200 000 proceeds of illicit drugs have been confiscated, while 64 correctional services officials have been implicated in these illegal acts, according to the briefing it received yesterday from the DCS on contraband found in correctional centres across the country and measures in place to prevent it.

Of these implicated officials, 16 were dismissed and 11 criminally charged and their cases handed over to South African Police Services, while 37 are still under investigation. The remainder could not be found guilty or charged due to lack of evidence directly implicating them in any illegality.

The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Kgomotso Ramolobeng, pointed out that the quantity of illegal cellphones circulating in prisons outnumbers the inmates. “These alarming numbers of contrabands could be related to the fact that visitors caught trafficking contrabands in these centres are not arrested immediately. They are instead banned from visiting prisons for a certain period of time and that creates a circle of repeat offenders due to this policy that has not stringent consequences,” she said.

The Chairperson decried the fact that there are only 14 body scanners in the 243 correctional centres across the country. She said: “The department needs to reprioritise its budget in spite of fiscal cuts to ensure that there is incremental roll-out of body scanner because they are critical for the safety of officials and inmates as well.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.