Bengaluru: Keeping an eagle eye on jailbirds easy now!

Bengaluru: As many as eight district prisons across the state that have been covered with high definition CCTV cameras for increased vigilance will be centralized to a single control room in the city. Prison authorities sitting in Bengaluru can monitor the activities in these prisons.

During the inauguration of the control room, State Home Minister G. Parameshwar told reporters on Tuesday that the initiative was to increase safety and security inside jails, and 20 more prisons will be added in a phased manner.

The prison authorities were upset with recent incidents of jail breaks, brawls among inmates, drug dealing and usage of mobile phones in prisons and other lapses. They hope these activities can be curtailed through rigorous 24/7 monitoring from a remote location.

There will also be a dedicated telephone line which will enable the control room to inform the respective prison if some untoward incidents on CCTV, a senior officer stated.

Director General of Police (Prisons) H.N. Sathyanarayana Rao told reporters that the feeds from all the cameras at various prisons in the state will be centralized to the control room in Gandhinagar in Bengaluru using BSNL’s network support – Karnataka State Wide Area Network (KSWAN) which has provided the department with 30 MBPS. This will look like a video wall that one may find in the Traffic Management Centre here, he added.

Sathyanarayana, who headed the project, also said that the CCTV cameras were equipped with alarms, which could activate in case of any breach or suspicious movements inside the prison.

Mr Parameshwar said this system would reduce illegal activities inside the prisons, including smuggling of contrabands and mobile phone, which are rampant in prisons.

Earlier prisons were built outside the cities due to security reasons, but due to rapid urbanisation, prisons are surrounded by residential layouts, hence if mobile phone jammers are installed, the nearby areas also get affected. Installation of CCTV cameras with a round-the-clock monitoring control room will help maintain a tight vigil, he said.

This would also enhance vigil among the respective prison staff, as the control room staff can issue necessary directions in case of any untoward incident or suspicious movements. “Installing CCTv would also help us ensure human rights of prison inmates as per the Supreme Court directions, Rao added.