NATCHEZ — Prison management officials say they have taken steps to cut down on contraband entering state prisons.

Management and Training Corporation announced Tuesday it has added a new K-9 unit to make unannounced visits to the four prisons it operates in Mississippi, including Wilkinson County Correctional Facility in Woodville.

“We have done a lot of things to cut down contraband,” WCCF Warden Frank Shaw said. “We’ve put up netting around the fences, updated our search procedures as people are coming in, and we have already put some other things in place that we are going to try to improve our overall security to ensure there is less contraband introduced into the prison.”

Other anti-contraband detection devices include the installation of body scanners funded by the Mississippi Department of Corrections, according to MTC.

The netting was likewise funded by the state, and Shaw said WCCF does everything in conjunction with MDOC.

Paul Stow, the officer who works with the two German shepherds that make up the K-9 unit, said the measure has already resulted in the arrest of two individuals trying to smuggle marijuana into a prison.

“Not only have we found what we consider to be everyday contraband like cell phones and cigarettes, but as we conduct our searches, we often discover other valuable information like intelligence associated with gang activity,” Stow said. “These are unannounced searches so visitors and offenders have no way of anticipating our visits.”

MTC Vice President of Corrections Odie Washington said the K-9 unit searches all of the facility’s housing units, entrance buildings, laundry rooms, mailrooms and vehicles entering the prison grounds.

“We are confident this new initiative, along with the new netting and body scanners, will put a big dent in this statewide problem,” he said. “As we reduce the impact of contraband, offenders will be able to focus better on the many education, vocation and substance abuse programs that are designed to help them prepare for successful re-entry into society.”

MTC is a private company that operates four prisons for MDOC.