(Seychelles News Agency) - Twenty Tanzanian prison officers have joined the Seychelles Prison Services to beef up security at the island nation’s main facility prison at Montagne Posee, a top official said Tuesday.

The superintendent of the Seychelles Prison Service, Raymond St Ange, said that the officers have come at an opportune time. Last month, an inmate died after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at the Montagne Posee Prison. It was the second death at the prison after an inmate succumbed to his injuries in 2016 after he fell off the roof of the facility.

“Increasing manpower has been one of the main priorities of the reform set forward by the Prison High-Level Committee. We will continue to increase our manpower in the future to make the prison safer and provide a conducive environment for our staff to work in,” said St Ange.

The officers, who are the first Tanzanian group to work for the Seychelles prison, arrived last week and will go through an induction which will include a discussion of the Seychellois culture and history. The officers are being placed mainly at the custodial residential block at the main prison.

The arrival of the Tanzanian prison officers follows a request made earlier this year by President Danny Faure to his Tanzania counterpart, John Magufuli. Subsequently, St Ange and the commissioner general from the Tanzanian Prison Service, Juma Malewa, signed an agreement for cooperation between the two prison services in June in Dar Es Salaam. Training opportunities for Seychelles prison staff at the Tanzanian Prison Academy were also discussed.

St Ange said that he trusts that the officers will discharge their responsibility accordingly such that peace and order are maintained in the prison. He added that the Tanzanians, who are well trained and highly disciplined, will also share their expertise with the other prison officers in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.