Bengaluru: Jammers inside the Bengaluru Central prison don’t work because of outdated technology, but the Government has renewed the annual maintenance contract (AMC) with the Central Government owned Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) in Lucknow for servicing the old jammers in the absence of a better option.
“The jammers at the Bengaluru Central Prison are outdated and are meant to restrict 2G and 3G mobile phones. Most of the phones that have been seized during the raids are smart phones using 4G technology. Soon we will have 5G phones. The jammers will not work on them. There are no jammers for 4G phone and even if they are available; they will cost the government a lot of money. The AMC will cover only 2G phones,” said an official source.
The Prison Department had procured 19 jammers, worth around Rs 6 crore, from ECIL in early 2013 after the daring jailbreak of serial rapist Jaishankar.
Following the incident the department officers had raided the prison and seized number of mobile phones and SIM cards. The AMC, which was recently renewed, also costs a few crores.
“Though jammers are not foolproof to check the illicit calls, which are made by the prisoners from inside the prison, there is no better option available to stop the menace. We will have to keep updating the technology and it is not cost effective. A better option will be to remove the jammers and strengthen the surveillance on the calls,” the officer added.
“A lot happens from inside the prison. Mobile phones and drugs are sneaked in by the prisoners’ kin, who meet them inside the prison. Most of the organised and heinous crimes are planned there. Supari (contract) for murders and hawala operations are finalized over phones. A couple of years ago a prisoner had made a call to Pakistan from inside the prison,” said the officer. The Bengaluru Central prison with a capacity of 2,000 inmates is overcrowded and has more than 4,000 prisoners.
“Overcrowding of jails and lack of adequate human and technology resources pose a grave security threat to the prison staff,” he said.
