A 25-year-old Eastern Cape woman used her two-year-old toddler to try and smuggle a cellphone apparently to her lover inside the St Albans Maximum Security Prison in Port Elizabeth at Christmas.
The Blackberry, stuffed into the child’s worn nappies, was detected when visitors were searched, the correctional services department revealed.
The woman was banned from visiting the jailed man for a year, said acting provincial correctional services department commissioner Noziphiwo Dumbela. It appears the department has a long way to go to remove cellphones from the hands of prisoners.
Operation Vala, which ran from December 17 to 20, uncovered 530 cellphones, 183 chargers with 192 batteries, in Mdantsane, East London, Port Elizabeth, Mthatha and Grahamstown prisons.
Port Elizabeth wife-killer Christopher Panayiotou's single cell contained a cellphone and three sim cards.
Dumbela said: “The mother of the toddler was warned not to visit during 2019 and her name is placed on the list of persons who are not allowed to visit at the centre during 2019.”
Departmental spokesperson Vuyo Gadu said the woman would not reveal who the smuggled cellphone was intended for but officials suspected her inmate boyfriend. Gadu said that in terms of an amendment to Chapter 3 of the Correctional Services Act, cellphones were barred since they were known to help inmates engage in further criminal activities and were a security threat.
Dumbela said all visitors were searched at the access control waiting area.
She said the correctional services department was sending out a stern warning to members of the public to desist from assisting inmates to smuggle contraband.
“The members of the public can be arrested and charged for this.”
Dumbela said members of the public were often found to have colluded with inmates to smuggle contraband in on a regular basis.
“They are getting creative. They always find new ways of smuggling contraband in including in food and toiletries and that is why we have decided not to leave anything to chance and rip open every item brought in by visitors.
“We once found drugs inside a body lotion and inside a block of margarine. That is how inmates are so creative. They instruct members of the public to do these things.”
Dumbela said the smuggling was a safety risk for all members of the community.
The national operation to prevent festive season escapes and violence at all 243 SA prisons was conducted at five EC prisons.
Drugs including 307 packets of mandrax and 1,895kg of dagga were also discovered, along with four knives and 85 sharpened objects. Liquor and cash were also seized from the cells of the five prisons.
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