Hi-tech drive to foil gang plots in jails

St Albans gets anti-smuggling gadgets

CORRECTIONAL Services is rolling out hi-tech devices across various prison facilities in a bid to clamp down on corruption and gang violence between inmates and officials.

Some of the gadgets due to be installed at St Albans Prison include a body scanner, to screen visitors for weapons and drugs, as well as cellphone detection systems.

This comes after a spate of murders of court case witnesses in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The murders, which started in 2013, sparked the establishment of a special task team to probe a hit squad operating from within St Albans Prison.

Port Elizabeth gang unit members also confirmed that several witness murders in Port Elizabeth’s gang-ridden northern areas were linked to assassinations arranged by gang bosses behind bars.

In parliament on Tuesday, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha said the body scanners had been approved by the Department of Health and were being installed in St Albans as well as other prisons in South Africa.