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Body scanners to help tackle smuggling in prisons
Some of the smuggled items that were found in the prisons
Full body and baggage scanners will be introduced to the New Amsterdam Prisons as part of efforts to tackle smuggling of contraband into the state reform facilities.
The machines are set to cost US$1.8M and will be purchased under the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP), to strengthen the Guyana Prison Service Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Services.
Kaieteur News understands that two scanners will be installed at the New Amsterdam Prison before the end of the year.
The government, through the Public Security Ministry, will be procuring additional scanners for the other prisons in the country to block illegal items from entering the prisons.
Contraband entering the prisons has been a growing issue for over a decade. Last year, a search team recovered a camouflage hat and a pair of camouflage short pants from the area. They also found a parcel containing 1002 grams of marijuana, a large quantity of tobacco leaves, four cell phones without SIM cards, one charger, one earpiece and 33 packets of Bristol cigarettes.
Soon after that, ranks manning the eastern towers of the Lusignan prison, heard “crashing sounds” emanating from the bushes and shortly after they observed a male clad in a ‘hoodie’.
The ranks then fired a “warning shot” into the thick vegetation. They recovered a bag containing 140 packets of cigarettes, four cellular phones, 11 lighters, one power pack, one earpiece, a phone charger, 15 packets of small size zip lock bags and 1794 grams of cannabis.
Police was also later called in to investigate the discovery of a knife and cutlass that were seen outside the north eastern fence of the holding bay at the Lusignan Prison.
According to reports, they were seen in the possession of a prisoner who was disarmed by another prisoner. The items were then thrown out of the holding bay and the matter was reported to prison authorities.
A few months prior to these discoveries, a probe was launched at the New Amsterdam Prison, after pictures of several high profile criminals surfaced on Facebook.
Most of these inmates were on remand for murder. In the photos, the prisoners were seen flaunting expensive alcohol and were seen smoking what is suspected to be marijuana.
It was reported that the contrabands were transported on a garbage collection tractor contracted by the prison.
With the numerous attempts to smuggle contrabands into the prison, ranks at the Lusignan Prison recently conducted a three-hour search at the venue where they found three cell phones, two cell phones batteries, a pocket knife, four pair scissors, two hack saw blades, 13 improvised weapons and two mirrors.
They also found 24 lighters, 27 phone chargers, four ear pieces, two pack needles, four phone casings, four zip lock bags with marijuana, one memory card, three SIM cards, cigarettes and a quantity of wires and razor blades.
Subsequently, a search was conducted at the New Amsterdam Prison where ranks discovered six cell phones, 292 grams of marijuana, 12 phone chargers, cigarettes, eight improvised weapons/ jookah and three SIM cards.
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