Bhubaneswar: All jails in the state will soon have mobile phone trackers in order to check the illegal usage of mobile phones by criminals from inside the prisons to run their criminal syndicates. Speaking to media persons, the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Santosh Kumar Upadhyaya, revealed that 300 telephone detectors would be installed in jails based on the number of inmates. The state has 91 jails including five circle, nine district and 67 sub jails.
The department has earmarked a budget of Rs 75 lakh for the installation of mobile trackers which is scheduled to be completed by the end of March this year. Jail staff have also been prohibited from taking mobile phones inside the jails. They have to deposit their phones with the guards deployed at the gates. Similarly, electronic surveillance in jails by the installation of CCTV cameras will be increased.
Upadhyaya has instructed the jail superintendent to tighten security at Choudwar jail where gangster Shakeel is lodged. Shakeel was in news after a businessman lodged a complaint alleging demand of extortion by Shakeel.
