Call for jail cellphone jammers
THE repeated discovery of cellphones and other disallowed items in prisons has resulted in a call for cellphone jammers to be installed in correctional facilities around the country.
The idea was mooted by Cope MP Dennis Bloem, who said the jammers would curb their illegal use. He argued that the lives of people were constantly in danger because prisoners continued to commit crimes while in jail. Bloem, initially made the proposal when he was chairperson of the Correctional Services Portfolio Committee, but it never received political support.
“It is very urgent that the Department of Correctional Services installs jammers to curb gangsterism and crime and prevent prisoners communicating with others to carry out crimes while they are inside prison,” he said.
He believed cellphone jamming would ensure that prison wardens could concentrate on their jobs. “They have landlines. I raised this issue a long time ago but there was no political will,” he added. Bloem said prison wardens were losing the battle against illegal goods and substances in prison.
In December, 30 cellphones and sharp instruments were found in Westville Prison by wardens and police during Operation Vala. Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said they already had cellphone detectors in jails which allowed for targeted interventions, as the system was able to locate cellphones with a fair degree of accuracy.
Minister of Correctional Services Mike Masutha previously revealed that between 2010 and 2015, 98 413 illegal communication devices were confiscated from prisons. During a raid at Westville Prison in 2017, authorities discovered 200 SIM cards and almost 70 cellphones as well as evidence that an inmate was running a taxi business.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said that cellphones were not the main problem in jails. “Drugs and other illegal goods are a huge problem. Let’s focus on the issues of overcrowding and capacity, those should take priority, then we can see how we address the issue of cellphones,” he said.