Baripada: At a time when the ongoing lawyers’ agitation has led to overcrowding in jails across the state, security vigil at Baripada circle jail in Mayurbhanj district has allegedly been lax due to defunct CCTVs.
As court proceedings continued to be paralysed due to the ongoing strike, the number of accused being lodged in the jail has increased. Adding to the problem, 55 CCTV cameras have been lying defunct in the jail over the last one month.
This has exposed the lax attitude of the jail authorities when the number of inmates keeps on growing.
Reports said the jail authorities have fixed 83 CCTV cameras at vantage points inside the jail to keep an eye on the movement and activities of the inmates. However, surveillance has been hit as only 28 CCTVs are working.
Locals sought to know that even though one month has passed, why the jail authorities have not repaired the CCTVs.
The authorities issued letters September 26 and October 5 to the agency to fix the problem, but have not pursued the matter.
The jail is capable of accommodating 591 inmates (544 males and 47 females), but as on Friday it has 795 inmates. Of them 730 are males.
Since the day lawyers started their strike, the jail has received 200 under-trial prisoners. There are 528 male and 58 female under-trials in the jail. Of them are 30 hardcore criminals.
The jail authorities asserted that security has been tightened inside while special security men are manning outside. Two jammers have been used inside the jail while four watch towers are there to monitor the movement of inmates.
However, it is alleged not a single security man was found guarding the watch towers.
Two inmates had managed to escape from the jail in 2005 and another April 28 2017.
The authorities seem to be struggling in providing accommodation, food, bathing, sanitation and drinking water to the growing number of inmates.
Jail superintendent Niranjan Das said security has been tightened while CCTVs are keeping vigil at 28 places. The agency has been asked to repair the 55 defunct CCTVs and no untoward incident has taken place till now, he added.
PNN
