After the recent clash that led to death of an undertrial prisoner at Ghaghidih Central Jail, the jail administration has introduced ward-locking system in the prison.

The objective of taking such step is to stop the undertrial prisoners as well as the convicts from moving inside different wards inside the central jail during the day time so that there can be no clash like the one that took place on June 25.

Superintendent, Ghaghidih Central Jail, Satyendra Kumar Chaudhury said that they are concerned about recent clash at the jail premises. He added that there was a system in which the jail inmates whether undertrial prisoners or convicts would move inside the jail from one ward to another between the period starting from 6 am till 6 pm.

"Taking lessons from past clashes, we have introduced the ward-locking system under which the inmates will have to stay put in their own ward only," said Chaudhury.

The superintendent said the main purpose behind the step is to confine prisoners in their cells so that there are no chances of fight. He pointed out that if prisoners are allowed to move from one ward to another, the chances of clash increases.

Chaudhury, when queried, said that he had no option but to restrict the movement of prisons. He had been trying to turn the central jail into a model jail by bringing various developmental schemes on welfare, but was compelled to resort to a step which will restrict the movement of the inmates.

A 34-year-old undertrial prisoner, Manoj Kumar Singh, was killed and another undertrial, Sumeet Singh was injured as jail guards resorted to lathi-charge following clash between the men of Pankaj Dubey, who is serving life imprisonment and the members of Akhilesh Singh gang inside the central jail on June 25 evening.

The trouble started at a telephone booth inside the jail and later had spread involving Pankaj Dubey and other faction led by Harish Singh, a close aid of gangster Akhilesh Singh, leading the jail guards to swing into action for controlling the clash by resorting to lathicharge.

Spread over 20 acres of land, the Ghaghidih Central Jail has a prisoners' capacity of 1,447.  Presently, the central jail has 16 CCTV cameras out of which only four are operational where as the rest 12 have gone out of order due to poor maintenance.

There have been frequent clashes between undertrial prisoners in the jail. Gangs owing allegiance to gangster Paramjeet Singh and Akhilesh Singh battled inside the jail on March 20, 2008. While Paramjeet was shot dead, another convict belonging to the rival group was lynched.