WATCH | Family, friends smuggle contraband items for inmates – Popcru

A union for prison warders says most of the contraband smuggled into the prisons is often brought in by the family members and friends of inmates.

This follows a surprise prison raid at the Johannesburg Correctional Centre “Sun City” prison on Wednesday evening. 

The raid, conducted by the police and national task team from the department of the correctional services, found and removed numerous contraband hidden either behind toilet seats, under bed mattresses, television set and inside pillowcases. 

Spokesperson for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (66, said the relatives and friends would always try to smuggle items into the prison.

Mamabolo said visitors were often arrested when caught trying to smuggle something in.

“In most cases, most of the members of the public are the ones being arrested for smuggling contraband into the prisons than the actual officials, but we note that there are corrupt officials who would be arrested from time to time.

“We do speak to our members about the dangers of allowing contraband into the facilities because at the end of the day, our members are the worst affected, they can’t do their work or work under difficult conditions,” said Mamabolo. 

He said wardens and visitors are always searched but there always seems to be a loophole where contrabands are pushed through. 

“It’s a complex matter. Even the wardens are searched when they come into the prisons and similarly with the members of the public but from time to time there might be loopholes here and there. 

“It leads to many questions as to how exactly some of these contrabands find their way through. What happened yesterday is a prime example of one trying to exactly detect where the contrabands came from and adding to understand the breach of security,” said Mamabolo.

On the day of the raid, Sowetan walked into the prison courtyard with the officials shouting “izandla phezulu” [hands up] as inmates marched out of their cells in chilling weather, some barefooted and some wearing only slippers. 

Some of the contrabands found were cellphones, marijuana, screwdrivers, TVs, chargers, old laptops, and a PlayStation worth R5,000. 

There were overcrowded bunk beds with very limited space between them for movement. Poor and thin mattresses at the prison reeked of a foul smell.

National commissioner of correctional services, Makgothi Thobakgale, said unit managers need to account for what was found. 

“There were offenders that were found with television sets but they could not produce permits for them or having those sets. Some offenders have cords and these cords are used to transport contrabands between the cells, so we also found electrical wires. 

“Some of them even keep these contrabands in their bodies sometimes it's difficult to detect them. Sometimes we even have officials that participate in these activities, sometimes you get family members and friends who visit.

“These are the different ways that contraband come in and we have to be alert to ensure that they are blocked before they are coming in and that's our preferred position,” said Thobakgale.