Staff shortage hits security in prisons

RANCHI: The state home (prison) department is yet to come up with foolproof plans to strengthen security arrangements in jails, which house several hardcore Maoists, dreaded criminals and life convicts.
The Seraikela jailbreak on Wednesday, in which two Maoists and four criminals managed to flee at gunpoint, has once again raised questions on security arrangements in jails.
Two Maoists — Balram Sahu alias David and Somra Hansda — took jailor Ramashanker Singh at gunpoint in front of 12 jail personnel and around half-a-dozen armed district police personnel, who did not dare to stop them and virtually gave them a free hand to flee.
Earlier, jail officials at Birsa Munda Central jail had recovered a pistol from David on December 31 last year, after which some of the jail staff were suspended. In a similar jailbreak incident on January 18 this year at Chaibasa, three top Maoists had managed to flee after cutting the grill of jail godown allegedly in connivance with jail officials.
On August 10, on a tip-off about prisoners using cellphones, Ranchi police raided the Birsa Munda Central jail at Hotwar in the small hours, but the jail staff did not open the entrance gate for nearly 15 minutes. Later, police found several objectionable things, including a knife, from one of the prisoner's wards.
It was found during the raid that cellphone jammers were also not functioning properly and CCTV cameras were switched off. On June 5, three Birsa Munda Jail inmates were given poison spiked in a soft drink by some visitors. The three were admitted to Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) where they succumbed.
Security of jails has been compromised several times, but the department is yet to have the requisite number of security staff to man the prisons. Facing acute shortage of security personnel, 1,300 ex-servicemen have been deployed for the security of 26 jails in different districts on contractual basis.
"As of now, the department has a shortage of around 1,500 security personnel," said a jail official.
However, it is also contemplating to deploy CISF in sensitive jails. "We are reviewing the security arrangements of all the jails and necessary steps are being taken to plug the gap," said IG (prisons) Vijay Kumar Singh, adding that installation of cellphone jammers and CCTV cameras in all the jails are underway.