By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterTHE NEW strategy implemented in local penal institutions has so far resulted in the seizure of 299 cellular phones following a series of searches conducted at four of the island's prisons since January.
"We have handed them over to the police, who are now investigating the source on the outside," said Major Richard Reece, head of the Correctional Services.
Major Reece noted that the installation of metal detectors had led to a significant reduction in the quantity of contraband being smuggled into the prisons. He said the department was now equipped with 80 systematic searchers who were trained by experts at the Caribbean Search Centre.
Reports are that orders to kill, extort and rob are sometimes orchestrated from behind the walls of the island's penal institutions by powerful and influential inmates, who use their cellular phones to 'run things' from their cells.
Complainants who are witnesses in matters before the court are sometimes intimidated or killed, based on the instructions that come from incarcerated individuals.
The Government, more than a year ago, installed a $8.5 million cellular phone jammer at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (General Penitentiary), to block calls between prisoners and their colleagues on the outside.
Responding to the problem of overcrowding in the institutions, Major Reece said he was in the process of completing work at the Tamarind Farm Prison to begin the re-classification of inmates to be transferred there.
Asked to comment on allegations that several inmates at the Horizon Park Remand Centre in West Kingston were beaten recently, Commissioner Reece said he had received only two reports, one about an inmate who had assaulted a correctional officer and the alleged beating of at least three inmates.
"The matter is being investigated," he said.
