Jail authorities to use drones for prisoner surveillance

The state home department has sanctioned the purchase of 12 drones and four x-ray scanning machines for Maharashtra’s big jails at a cost of ₹1.80 crore and ₹1.94 crore respectively. The government resolution was issued by the home department on February 13

Mumbai: The state home department has sanctioned the purchase of 12 drones and four x-ray scanning machines for Maharashtra’s big jails at a cost of ₹1.80 crore and ₹1.94 crore respectively. The government resolution was issued by the home department on February 13.

Jail authorities to use drones for prisoner surveillance

“Some of our jails are vast, and we are understaffed,” said Amitabh Gupta, additional director-general of police (jails). “We have 5,000 positions but at present only 4,300 officers and employees. The government has given us a commitment to hire 2,000 more but this will take time.”

Gupta said that the overall capacity of the state’s jails was 24,000 but they housed 42,000 prisoners and undertrials. “The drones will help us keep a better vigil,” he said, adding that drones have been used to keep vigil in Uttar Pradesh jails.

Another officer of the state prisons department said that the drones would be used for big jails. “Yerawada Jail is spread over 512 acres, Taloja over 66 acres and Thane is 45 acres,” he said. “It is physically impossible to manage these jails. The constabulary is hand-in-glove with the inmates, and even if the top brass wants to check illegal practices, the lower rungs make it impossible. The drones fitted with cameras will provide pictorial evidence of what is happening inside the jails and record the drug abuse, fights and other irregular practices.”

The officer said that the drones would also keep an eye on open jails, which are huge and have farm lands where prisoners work. “In many jails, there are no proper scanning systems, and prisoners and undertrials are manually frisked,” he said. “The new X-ray scan systems will detect contraband better.”

An IPS officer pointed out a recent case where an attempt to throw a packet of narcotic substances into Arthur Road Jail was thwarted. Arthur Road Jail shares its boundaries with chawls and slums, and there is a distance of a mere two metres between the jail wall and the chawls. “Such drones must be used in Mumbai jails too to keep a watch on such things being thrown inside,” he said.