‘Suspicious’ movement behind washroom leads to search at Yerawada Open Prison: Cell phones, power banks, charging cables seized

According to the FIR, on February 21, when the complainant was on a routine round of the prison, he spotted suspicious movements of an inmate behind a washroom next to the meditation hall of the open prison. When the jailer approached the inmate, he handed over a cell phone but gave evasive answers on how he found it. Subsequently, a thorough search of Circles 1, 2, and 6 was conducted on February 22, which involved multiple officers and prison staffers.

During a similar search at the open prison in September 2024, seven cell phones, five phone chargers, a power bank, and a vaping device were seized.

Officials have said that the prisons across the state have smart card-based phone facilities and video calling facilities through e-Mulakat online visitation facilities. But these facilities can only be used to contact verified contacts, and all these calls are monitored. The recovery of the number of cell phones in spite of these facilities suggests that the seized devices were being used for illegal activities.

In a drive launched across key prisons in Maharashtra in 2023, 33 cell phones were recovered from six prison facilities, leading to 20 FIRs being registered. Of these, the largest number of phones, 17, had been seized in 12 cases from the maximum-security Yerawada Central Prison in Pune alone.

The Yerawada Open Prison

Located next to the maximum-security Yerawada Central Prison, the Yerawada Open Prison currently houses 250 inmates, mostly serving life sentences for murders. A life convict has to serve a sentence ranging from 14 years to the entirety of natural life in prison, depending on the nature of the crime and several other factors.

Open prisons are minimum security facilities where convicted inmates—mostly life term inmates—are lodged after they show good behaviour and signs of reform during their sentences at central prisons. The sentence served at open prisons has a key advantage—for one year served at an open prison without any negative remark, an inmate gets one year of remission. The inmates of open prisons work in open fields located next to these prisons and have the least monitoring as compared to the maximum security facilities, which have stringent monitoring, security and surveillance.