Maharashtra government to buy Israeli tech to upgrade prison security

In the wake of the recent jailbreak in Nagpur central prison, the state home department is all set to procure technical support from Israel to upgrade its jail security. Sources in the department confirmed that the government is in talks with several top Israel-based companies to buy technologies like cyber fencing, high quality jammers, technically advanced CCTVs and mobile detectors. The department is also considering the option of providing special training to the jail staff.

Sources claimed that a team of officers have just returned from Israel and the deal is expected to be finalised in a week's time. "During our visit to Israel jails, we found that they have a much advanced fencing system that can be controlled from a room. Even the close circuit cameras installed in their prisons can be operated, zoomed in and out from the control room. We are looking forward to strengthen our cyber fencing system on the lines of Israel jails," said a senior home department officer.

Another thing that caught attention of Indian officers was the training provided to dogs for guarding prisons. As of now, dogs are used here only to detect smuggling of drugs into prisons. "Not just dogs, they also train there security staff so well that they can interact with the dogs using signs and signals. Also, they have separate teams of commandos to do different jobs — like the security staff would only be responsible for guarding and would be trained specifically to do that. Similarly, there would be different teams to do other jobs like frisking," the officer added.

Sources in the government claim that Israel's security system has caught the attention of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who visited the country earlier this year. It was during this visit that he invited senior officials from various security companies of Israel to discuss technical uplift of jails in Maharashtra.