Correctional Services Commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale, led a search operation at St Albans Correctional Centre in Gqeberha on Thursday night.
He said the raid on the maximum security section housing inmates that include "lifers," was part of their normal security operations focussing on St Albans over the past few days.
Thobakgale said some of the contraband discovered in one cell block included "wires" which he said were used "for different purposes" and were part of the "dangerous contraband that we found here."
"Our aim is to make it a point that we keep clean facilities, first in terms of contraband like cell phones and other unlawful objects that are not meant to be in the facility itself."
"This is also to help the offenders themselves to continue keeping a clean record because if they don't we have to discipline them," he added.
Meanwhile, he said the seven prisoners who escaped from the Waainek Correctional Centre in Makhanda last month had hatched their escape plan over time in a well-orchestrated campaign.
Thobakgale said the information gathered after the Makhanda escape had also helped to strengthen security at other prisons.
He said three of the seven prisoners, who are mostly Zimbabweans jailed for rhino poaching, are back behind bars while the hunt for the remaining four continues.
