As a part of its efforts to strengthen prison security, the Punjab Government on Monday decided to deploy the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for checking and frisking at six of its 10 high-security jails in the State by the end of July.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who took the decision during a meeting with the state Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, DGP Suresh Arora, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, besides other top officials, also directed the Jails Department to coordinate with the central authorities to expedite the process of deployment.
The Jails Department is getting two companies of CISF from the Centre and plans to deploy one platoon each in six of the state's high-security prisons.
As per the details, the CISF personnel will be posted in deori — the corridor between two main gates of the jail — where currently frisking is done by either jail warders or matrons or by Punjab Ex-Servicemen Corporation (PESCO) jawans.
The watch towers on outer walls will continue to be manned by Punjab Police and Punjab Home Guard jawans.
Expressing concern over security violations and sneaking of mobile phones and drugs etc into the state's prisons, the Chief Minister ordered the Jails department to ensure efficient working of all installed Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) inside the jails.
He also ordered steps to make law for seizure of mobile phones and drugs in prisons more stringent, with provisions for punishment of the same to run separate from the existing sentence.Capt Amarinder asked the DGP to crackdown on all such offenders and take stern action against any police or prison official found conniving in this regard. Earlier, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) informed the Chief Minister that out of the total 244 gangsters lodged in Punjab prisons, 86 are A-category gangsters.
Since January 2017, more than 2,000 mobile phones had been confiscated from the inmates in the jails, while 389 cases had been filed against recovery of prohibited drugs from prisoners.
Taking cognizance of threats by some gangsters to police and jail officers, Amarinder ordered enhancement of security of those directly involved in dealing with hardcore criminals and gangsters, along with their family members.
He also asked the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, to provide personal vehicles to all Jail Superintendents across the state.
In another step to improve the prison system, Capt Amarinder directed the Jails Department to explore the possibility of changing recruitment rules to make it mandatory for the newly recruited DSPs to undergo one-year stint in jails before being promoted to the SP rank. Asserting that financial constraints would not be allowed to scuttle his government's efforts to modernize the prisons, he directed the Finance Department to make available Rs 29 crore needed by the Jails Department for procurement of hi-tech security apparatus for all state jails.
He asked the Jails Department to prepare a comprehensive plan listing the requirement of such equipment, including Door Frame Metal Detectors (DFMDs), Hand Held Metal Detectors (HHMDs), X-ray baggage machines, deep search metal detectors, pole metal detectors, full body scanners, boom barriers, dragon and flood lights.
Expressing satisfaction over the recruitment of 550-odd watch and ward personnel in the past one year, the Chief Minister ordered expediting of the process of filling up the remaining vacancies. As part of the prisons reforms process, he also underlined the importance of correctional and skills training for rehabilitation of the inmates after their release, besides upgradation of the prison factories.