Jamshedpur : IG (Prison) Suman Gupta during a surprise inspection detected several lapses at the Ghaghidih Central Jail in Jamshedpur.
Gupta who visited the central jail for the first time spent over two hours and took stock of situation including the visitors and interacted directly to the prisoners lodged there.
“I was here to inspect the administration here. I have found that there are security lapses both at the end of the jail administration as well as at the security system provided by the district police. I am not satisfied with the security arrangement which has to be strengthened further,” said Gupta.
The IG prison expressed concerns that the jammers which have been installed at the central jail are not working despite they got repaired recently. Moreover, frisking work by the district police personnel is not being carried out properl.
“I am aware that the Ghaghidih Central Jail like any other jail in the state has not the required number of security staff. But the jail administration has not been able to keep the security aspect as strongly as it should have done.
Though a surprise raid is conducted by the district police inside the Ghaghidih Jail, cell-phone or its accessories like chargers, batteries and even SIM cards are recovered. But nothing as such is found during a surprise raid by the jail administration,” Gupta said.
She stated that therefore she has ordered the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner, Amitabh Kaushal to conduct surprise raid of the central jail at least twice a month and ensure deployment of adequate number of police personnel for carrying out frisking work at the jail gate.
Gupta expressed satisfaction that over 30 CCTV cameras are all functional. She said she has given certain instruction to ensure that the CCTV cameras are not damaged by anyone as they will work as a third eye in the jail premises.
Sources said the IG also interacted with the prisoners to know about their problems. Notably, there are over 1,450 prisoners, including undertrail prisoners at the Ghaghidih Central Jail.
Of these jail inmates 64 are female prisoners, several of them have children. Notably, the Ghaghidih Central Jail is spread over an area of 20 acres — set up on as large an area as Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar, Ranchi.
The home department had conducted a survey of the jail in June 2009 before the recommendation for fixing mobile jammers in the jail. Sources went on to inform that concerned over the situation at the jail the administration has plans to step up vigilance and deploy additional security forces.
