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London Calling Podcast Yana Bolder
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has called for cellphone signal-blocking technology to be piloted at Pollsmoor Prison, warning that inmates are using mobile phones to run criminal networks from behind bars.
In a statement released on Friday, Hill-Lewis said he had written to Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald, informing him that extortion and other crimes were being coordinated from within the prison.
“The City has received various reports that crime and extortion activity is being coordinated by phone from within Pollsmoor,” Hill-Lewis said.
“On a recent roads project inspection in Bishop Lavis, I was informed that the contractor had left the site due to extortion threats made by phonecall from an underworld figure inside Pollsmoor.
“This shows we must do more than just jail criminals, we have to prevent their ability to coordinate crime from within prisons.
“I have written to [Groenewald] to offer the City’s full support to pilot sophisticated signal-blocking tech at Pollsmoor.
“We have to flip the switch on cellphones in prisons, and we welcome the minister’s public commitments to cracking down on this.”
Hill-Lewis said besides technology to jam signals and intercept communications from underworld figures inside prisons, Groenewald has publicly committed to intensify raids on illegal contraband including illicit cellphones in correctional facilities.
He said Groenewald also offered intelligence-sharing to identify patterns of criminal activity, technical and logistical support for installation, and initiatives to raise public awareness in support of the effort.
The Mother City’s safety and security political head, JP Smith said city officers regularly encountered incidents of parolees committing repeat offenses.
“It is also common for arrested suspects to return to the streets due to the broken criminal justice system’s inability to secure convictions.
“We continue to call for reforms to the early parole system, and for criminal investigative powers to be devolved to our municipal officers to help the police gain more convictions by building prosecution-ready case dockets, especially for gang, gun, drug and extortion-related crime.”
Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo was approached for comment, which will be added once received.
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