11 Dec 2023

Botswana Prisons Service has established Prisons intelligence and police units meant to address security and britches in the facilities. 

Commissioner of prisons, Ms Dinah Marathe said this during an end of year media engagement on Friday. 

She said they ran training programmes, which were meant to equip officers to suppress any internal and external threats. 

Ms Marathe also said they managed to procure specialised escort vehicles and they had commenced the process of introducing the Prisons Air Wing, which would enhance aerial surveillance and improve operational efficiency. 

Ms Marathe informed the media that they had commenced the procurement of the integrated prisons solution to increase the rate of detection and deterrence within the facilities. 

The commissioner said the installation of CCTVs within their facilities was ongoing across the country. She said the intention was to have all the prisons installed with security gadgets for monitoring and surveillance purposes. 

The project is expected to be completed within the next financial year. 

According to the commissioner, the initiatives would improve the level of security in the facilities to match the ever-changing and dynamic criminal environment and protect both officers and inmates. 

Commissioner Marathe disclosed that they had awarded a tender for video visitation. 

She explained that the video visitation was an endeavour to improve inmates’ welfare because some relatives did not to visit their family members in prison. 

Ms Marathe reiterated that getting no visitors could increase chances of depression and stress. 

“Sometimes because parents can’t afford the travels or sometimes they are too old for that, we are coming up with this programme to connect inmates with their families,” she said. 

The prisons chief said they were highly challenged in terms of security as there were a lot of criminal activities occurring in prisons all over the world and Botswana was not spared. 

Ms Marathe said parents and the public needed to assist in rehabilitating their family members. 

She indicated that families and friends were the ones who introduced contrabands and phones into prisons. 

Ms Marathe said when they came to visit, they put phones, drugs and all kinds of contrabands in the creams and lotions that they brought for inmates. 

She said it meant that they had prisoners who were constantly on drugs and constantly committing crimes with their cellphones. 

She said cybercrime was also on the increase so much that it  was topical at the International Conference of Commissioner Generals of Prison Services in Belgium. 

Ms Marathe said Botswana Prisons Service and the society needed to work together to reduce the prevalence of cellphones in prisons. ENDS