Top home department officials confirmed that the government has finalised the plan and implementation will begin soon after this visit.
A team of officials from Israel are scheduled to visit Maharashtra central jails on May 28 and 29 to start upgrade of prison security. The home department is in process of signing a "government to government" contract with the Israel government to introduce "chip" or "bracelet" tracking system for prisoners to enhance the security. Israel-based private companies are being hired for the work.
To begin with, officers of Israel government will start work in Nagpur, Arthur Road and Byculla jails. The work would be focussed on three fronts — installing jammers equipped with "selective jamming", patrolling and fencing, and installation of either chips or bracelets for tracking inmates.
Top home department officials confirmed that the government has finalised the plan and implementation will begin soon after this visit.
In November 2015, the Maharashtra government had set up a high-level committee to finalise the upgrade of its jails' security system. The committee headed by principal secretary (home) Vijay Satbir Singh will comprise senior jail officers, including DG prisons BK Upadhaya, and senior officers of the finance department. The main purpose of the committee is to work out a detailed plan on upgrade of the security system of the 40-odd jails in Maharashtra.
Israel's security system had caught the attention of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis when he had visited the country in 2015. It was during this visit that he invited senior officials from various security companies of Israel to discuss technical upgrade of Maharashtra jails. Soon, Singh along with several officers also visited Israel in June 2015 to check the same.
Sources claimed that during the visit various technical things, such as jammers, CCTVs and a highly advanced control room, impressed the Indian officers. Another thing that caught their attention was the training provided to dogs for guarding the prisons. As of now, in Maharashtra prisons, dogs are only used to detect drugs.
Sources also said that the jammers here are of a poor quality and can easily become non-functional if a prisoner throws some water on it. Officers added that they are also working on increasing the number of CCTVs, mobile detectors, metal detectors and more scanning machines in all jails across the state. The state has a total of 50 prisons of which nine are central jails. In all, they house 25,000 to 30,000 inmates. In March 2015, five hardened criminals fled from the Nagpur jail by climbing over the boundary wall.
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