Inmates use Whatsapp from inside jail

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MA jailed suspect has been found to be sending WhatsApp messages to his relatives and friends.

Furthermore, he has been found to have threatened witnesses through the WhatsApp messages sent from his jail cell at the Manzini Remand Centre at Zakhele Township. The remand prisoner, who was the owner of the mobile phone, also allowed his fellow inmates access to his gadget and they were also able to send WhatsApp messages to their relatives and friends.

It has been established that the inmate, whose name cannot be revealed as he is not yet charged, as His Majesty’s Correctional Services is currently carrying out investigations to ascertain how the mobile phone was smuggled into the highly secured remand prison, outsmarted one of the officers during his admission last month.

According to our reliable sources, the officer did not thoroughly administer a search on the new remand prisoner who was brought in by the members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service after he was initially charged and remanded for a housebreaking offence at the Manzini Magistrates Court.

Impeccable sources revealed that the normal procedure whenever there was a new admission at the remand centre was that the inmate was stripped naked and further searched before being taken into the allocated cells. This procedure reportedly makes it difficult for any substance or any prohibited material to be smuggled into the correctional facility. But on this day, the officer is alleged to have lost his concentration and failed to administer the required intensive search, thereby allowing the suspect to go in with his mobile phone.

Immediately when the remand prisoner entered his allocated cell, he is said to have alerted a few of his buddies of his smuggled gadget and random calls and WhatsApp messages were then made to friends and loved ones. They are said to have been shocked because it is a known fact that mobile phones are strictly prohibited inside prison, let alone being possessed by an inmate.

Even correctional officers are reportedly not allowed to be in possession of mobile phones during working hours. It is the witnesses who are said to have raised the alarm as they were not pleased and were equally surprised to receive threatening calls and messages from the suspect they knew to be in prison. The, mobile phone is said to have been used for over two weeks before its battery went flat.

Correctional Services Public Relations Officer, Gugulethu Dlamini said that security matters are highly classified and cannot be divulged to the public.