From March 2017 : 230 mobile phones have been seized in prisons

The Minister Mentor, Minister of Defence, Minister for Rodrigues, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, has revealed in the National Assembly that 230 mobile phones have been seized in prisons from March 2017 to Tuesday 7th November. Answering to a question of MP Malinee Sewocksingh, Sir Anerood Jugnauth informed the House that inquiries have been carried out by the Prison Intelligence Unit regarding mobile phones secured in prisons.

The inquiries have revealed the following:
(i) Most of the mobile phones secured are pelted over security walls by persons purposely hired and paid by detainees or relatives. Pelting is more common as most of the prisons are found within public residential areas;
(ii) Pelting is resorted to mostly during the nights and weekends and many pelted mobile phones do not reach the detainees as they fall into the no-man’s land around prisons and are picked up by officers on patrol;
(iii) Some mobile phones somehow reach the detainees, for example, through vehicles conveying goods and services to prisons and through body cavities of prisoners when coming back from court;
(iv) Following internal investigations and, where required, secured mobile phones together with their SIM cards are handed over to the Police (Anti-Drug Smuggling Unit) for further inquiry. Those found on high profile detainees are handed over to investigators of the Commission of Inquiry on Drug Trafficking.

Sir Anerood Jugnauth has stated that a set of measures have been taken by the Prisons Department to prevent the entry of mobile phones in prisons, namely:
(i) All Senior Officers calling for night check in any prison are searched by the Night Orderly Principal Prisons Officer in the presence of the Gatekeeper prior to entering the prison and entries are inserted in the search book accordingly;
(ii) Walk-through mobile phone detectors are used during search operations to detect any person trying to smuggle mobile phones;
(iii) Sniffer dogs are randomly used to sniff and detect prohibited articles, for example, mobile phones retrieved in slippers received from relatives;
(iv) On the basis of reliable sources of information, regular strip searches are carried out on officers highly suspected to be introducing prohibited articles;
(v) All officers posted on towers are searched prior to proceeding to their posts.
Surprise checks and searches are also carried out on officers prior to entering towers as well as those already on their post on towers;
(vi) All vehicles leaving and returning to any prison compound are subject to a vehicular patrol prior to entry into the prison compound;
(vii) The vehicles used at Beau Bassin Prison and Eastern High Security Prison, Melrose, for conveying of canteens goods and collecting garbage are kept in a place under CCTV coverage on a 24-hour basis before final delivery;
(viii) Regular reshuffling of officers is resorted to in different sections
(ix) Finally, procedures have been initiated for the procurement of new high-tech equipment including jammers and body scans.