Jail officials not to display nameplates

IN A new initiative to create high-security zones to house notorious criminals and gangsters, the Punjab jails department would “allow” the jail staff, manning these facilities, to “maintain anonymity by non-display of nameplates” in view of threats to them and their family members from these criminals. A 15 per cent risk allowance for warder/head warder and assistant superintendent of jail and 10 per cent risk allowance for deputy superintendent jail in-charge manning these zones is among the other proposals sent to the government by Punjab Additional Director-General, Jails, Rohit Choudhary. Choudhary said of the 225 criminals lodged in different jails of Punjab, 35 are hardcore criminals. “Many prison officers have been intimated and threatened by these gangsters many a time as the officers deal with hardcore criminals and exercise checks on a regular basis. At times, the gangsters resort to violence and even attack prison officers. Besides, there have been several incidents of fight between gangsters and prison officials in the jail which have been of serious concern,” he stated.

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The high-security zones will have 4G jammers, door frame metal detectors, round-the-clock CCTV surveillance and different mulakat timings for hardcore criminals.

The zones will come up in all nine central jails of the state as well as the maximum-security jail in Nabha.

The gangsters and terrorists, who had escaped from the maximum-security Nabha Jail on November 27 last year, were found to be using 4G handsets inside the jail to communicate with their associates. The jammers in the jail were not compatible to detect 4G signals.

“The government has approved of the proposals and installation of equipment is under way. A 4G jammer would block all the signals in a radius of 70 metres,” Choudhary said.

The nine central jails in Punjab are located in Patiala, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Bathinda, Amritsar and Gurdaspur. Choudhary said high-security zones will be “fully covered by watch towers” and the number of such towers shall be constructed depending on the area of the zone.