02 Mar 2022

Botswana Prison Service is collaborating with two other security agencies on the establishment of an intelligence division and rapid response teams to fight among others prison escapes.

Officially opening the 2022 Senior Prison Officers’ Conference in Maun on Tuesday, Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Kagiso Mmusi said Botswana Police Service and the Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services were running training programmes for the organisation.

The initiative would enable the organisation to respond appropriately to the scourge of prison escapes which continued to haunt it, Mr Mmusi said.
 

Noting that some escapees ended up committing sordid crimes, he stated that the escape of ‘even a single prisoner was a serious public security threat’.

The minister said last year 13 prisoners escaped from custody 11 of whom were recaptured.

Prison escapes should be prevented by all means and the initiatives being introduced would deter and detect criminal activities that could be catastrophic to public safety and jeopardise the reputation of the organisation, said the minister.

Mr Mmusi noted that the rate of crime and the complexity of acts of criminology were growing at alarming rates.

The advent of terrorism, drug related offences and crimes committed in the cyber space demanded that the defence and security services be sufficiently capacitated, he said.

Mr Mmusi lamented that despite the introduction of security measures, infiltration of prohibited articles such as drugs  as well as smuggling of mobile phones into prisons continued.

On other issues, he commended the  organisation for the Gender Based Violence Perpetrators Programme and Offender Rehabilitation and Reintegration Strategy initiatives  as well as collaboration with First Lady

Neo Masisi to eliminate GBV in Botswana.

It was also applauded for  warding off the impact of COVID-19 on prisoners and officers by ensuring adherence to stipulated regulations and protocols as well as facilitating vaccination of inmates at the earliest opportunity.

Botswana Prison Service commissioner, Ms Dinah Marathe said the organisation achieved a lot of milestones in the past year which included development of the rehabilitation and reintegration strategy.

It's aim was to enhance the organisation’s collaboration with local communities and the Offender Reintegration Programme, which had not been effectively offered in the past, she said.

Ms Marathe said the introduction of the Gender Based Violence Perpetrators Voice programme in collaboration with the Office of First Lady was highly accepted by Batswana.

Turning to the conference, she said one of its outcomes would be a SMART annual performance plan that would transform prison service into an organisation of repute.

The aim was ‘to be more creative, efficient and agile; where excellence in performance is the order of the day’, Ms Marathe said. Ends