Daring escape exposes chinks in jail security

READ: Tihar breached: 2 escape, 1 caught

Personnel of the Tamil Nadu Special Police are supposed to patrol on foot the sterile area between the peripheral wall and the ones coming just after it. They were reportedly on duty when the two undertrials escaped.

There are no CCTV cameras installed in the sterile areas of the prison complex. There are 350 cameras installed in the nine jails and the offices on the complex, but none in the sterile zones. Therefore, no CCTV footage of the two escaping was available. The prison is short by 800 to 1,000 CCTV cameras and plans to buy the same for installation at the earliest, senior officials said.

READ: One fled fast, ‘duped’ mate found crying in a drain

The superintendents of all nine jails as well as the DIG had written to the Public Works Department (PWD) several times over the past year to get the mounds of debris and dirt cleared from the prison complex. The mounds as high as four feet stacked against the walls outside jail number eight and the peripheral helped the two undertrials scale the walls.

The PWD had left the mounds of dirt and debris along with an unfinished 25 feet of a metal road which they were relaying with concrete between the peripheral wall and the wall running along jail number eight. The PWD was also digging up the ground for sewerage at a location near jail number eight. The department took no action to clear away the debris and complete their assigned work despite the many letters the jail authorities had written it.

The DIG had last week written to the DCP (west district) to increase police presence outside the jail premises. He also wrote to the DCP (Outer district) for upping security outside the Rohini jail complex. A couple of more PCR vans were stationed outside Tihar but they were not enough said a senior Tihar official, citing Saturday’s break.