Crackdown on prison contraband

Rougier displayed two $100 bills and a SIM card, that were stuck between the pages of a daily newspaper by a relative of a prisoner at the Golden Grove Prison.

“A relative of a prisoner gave this newspaper to an officer. The officer checked the papers and found the items,” he said.

Rougier said that the money was used by prisoners to buy marijuana and other items during their stay at the prisons.

“The prisoners use the money for bartering drugs and other items. We are up against this every day,” Rougier explained adding, “We have to search everything that comes into the prison.”

Other officers said that knives, cell phones, and in one instance ten packs of cigarettes were found on family members during a full body cavity search. The officers said that this method is called “vaulting.” In another instance, a bottle of water which was sent by a family member for a prisoner, was really a bottle of puncheon rum.

The money will be confiscated and then sent to the Treasury for the matter to be further investigated.

The officer who found the money was commended for his honesty by Superintendent, Orson Barmand, to the Commissioner. Family members who stood outside the prison complained of the long wait before their visits.

Meanwhile, as visitors were searched, there was a power outage in one section of the prison.