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Collapsing law and order: 500 mobiles seized in 7 months at Ludhiana Central Jail
According to jail officials, there are only 110 jail guards to deal with 4,000 inmates even as the jail has a capacity of 2,500 inmates
Despite having a dog squad and CRPF personnel, the staff at Ludhiana Central Jail has failed to deter smuggling of drugs and mobile phones inside the premises.
In the past seven months, the jail staff has recovered over 530 mobile phones besides sachets of tobacco, narcotic powder and other contrabands from the inmates, Shivraj Singh Nandgarh superintendent, Ludhiana Central Jail, said.
Some of the inmates are habitual offenders and have access to more than one mobile phone in the jail. Recently, the jail staff recovered multiple mobile phones from one inmate during consecutive raids.
According to jail officials, there are only 110 jail guards to deal with 4,000 inmates even as the jail has a capacity of 2,500 inmates. It has become a challenge for the jail inmates to conduct checks on all inmates.
To curb the drug menace in the prison, the jail authorities received three Belgian Malinois. The dogs are trained to sniff the drugs. The dog squad will sniff the inmates returning from the court hearings to confirm if they hid drugs.
CRPF personnel were also deputed in the jail to help the jail staff. These CRPF men were deployed at the meeting room, the entrance of the main jail complex, at high security cells and on patrolling on the outer wall of the jail to deter smuggling of drugs.
According to the jail staff, the inmates used to get the mobile phones and contrabands through their aides, who used to throw the packets containing cash and mobile phones over the compound wall of the jail. In some cases, the inmates used to procure the mobile phones and other contrabands from their aides during court hearings. They used to stash the mobile phones and other contrabands in their private parts to dodge jail staff.
Superintendent Nandgarh said that they have intensified checking inside the jail premises. “Several teams are used to check the inmates. We have also strengthened patrolling around the compound wall.”
