‘Crackdown on crime in prison’

COMMUNITY Safety MEC Albert Fritz has called on Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola to identify and implement new technologies to prevent crime within prison walls.

His call comes after an incident on Saturday at the Voorberg Correctional Centre in Porterville in which two suspects tried to smuggle contraband into the prison.

Fritz said prisons should not be synonymous with being “crime headquarters”. “The purpose of prison is both punishment and rehabilitation. It is common cause that prisons are universities of criminality,” he said.

“I call on Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola to urgently investigate and implement new technologies that can help prevent crime taking place in our prisons,” he said.

“Crime prevention in prisons should be focused on limiting cellphone use,” he said. Those solutions may include signal tracking technology, and K9 units.

Of Saturday’s incident, police spokesperson FC Van Wyk said a warder on one of the lookout points noticed the two attempting to enter the lookout post he was manning.

“One of the suspects was already halfway inside the lookout post when the warder confronted him. The two became involved in a scuffle and the warder took the backpack which the suspect had in his hand.”

“The suspect fled. When the warder opened the backpack he found 350 mandrax tablets, a rope and a side cutter,” Van Wyk said.

Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts can contact Crime Stop at 086 001 0111 or SMS Crime Line at 32211.