05 Mar 2017

Botswana Prison Service will change uniform as part of the organisation’s re-branding exercise.
This was revealed by the commissioner of Botswana Prison Service, Colonel Silas Motlalekgosi, saying the change would take place in the new financial year.
Speaking at a consultative meeting in Gaborone on March 2, Col Motlalekgosi stated that the re-branding exercise was meant to modernise the service, improve behaviour patterns and motivate officers.
Moreover, he said as a way of improving the service, there would be continuous training and development exercise to upskill officers.
Col Motlalekgosi said the organisation had drafted a legislation review, which had been sent to Parliament for debate.
The commissioner said feedback from society was amazing while the media played a big role in improving the service.
“Imprisonment has become a mainstream topic of conversation in the society and we are working hard to avert undesired behaviour of prisoners escaping like the recent one in Francistown.”
The success of the service, he said, included improved operational efficiency as government worked hard to install cables in all 23 prisons for internet service access.
Government, he said, had approved a request for the organisation to take over all roundabouts in Gaborone, allowing them to continue decorating them.
The commissioner stated that the organisation was working on securing land across the country, which would be used to produce food while at the same time imparting skills to the prisoners.
However, he said prisoners would not be paid for their services contrary to some reports in the media.
Col Motlalekgosi said since prisons were built a long time ago, infrastructure was not conducive, however stating that the service was working with the Department of Building and Engineering Services on rehabilitating such buildings.
Col Motlalekgosi indicated suspicions of some officers conniving with inmates to orchestrate escapes, adding that the service was faced with challenges of illegal items entering the prisons, among them knives, cell phones and marijuana.
To address the problem he said CCTVs and scanners were installed to boost security, which he said people could still bypass the system and pass items to prisoners. ENDS