“We have conducted a number of raids, cleaning our facilities of contraband items, yet more is still needed. It is for this reason that we are now installing cellphone detection technology,” Masutha told journalists ahead of his budget vote in Parliament.

“We have completed staff training in seven correctional centres, and we are now dealing with the big five. In addition, the Department of Health has granted us a licence to install body cavity scanners. Installation has already started in Johannesburg, St. Albans, Pollsmoor and Kgosi Mampuru II.”

Correctional Services director general Zach Modise said it was hoped the cellphone detection system would go a long way to prevent inmates from offending while behind bars.

“These cellphones are a menace to us, creating a number of problems where victims of crime and witnesses are being called by these offenders from our facilities, intimidating and threatening witnesses … but also it is being used to proliferate crime in our facilities where smuggling between officials and offenders is then being heightened,” said Modise.

Modise said a decision had been made to also install CCTV cameras inside the prisons to detect inmates attacking each other.

“What we really want to really do is to intervene and make sure that those that are in our facilities are not being threatened, are not being assaulted, and are not being abused,” he said.

“We have found that at the bigger institutions where we have remand admission centres, like here at Pollsmoor where we are having trouble of offenders being brutalised by others in one way or another and therefore we would like to get to have that information then we’ll be able to also deal with theses offenders.”

ANA