Flip side of video links in jail: Police to lose underworld information

After the video-conferencing system is in place, the police will lose out on timely and useful information as many jail inmates work as police informers and get information on the underworld. As inmates won’t be taken out of the jails, they would not be able to gather information.

“If the underworld operatives want to pass on any crucial information to the arrested members of the gang lodged in the jail, or receive any information about rival gangs through their foot-soldiers lodged in the jails, they pay the police and jail guards,” added a source.

The inmates exchange information while being taken to court where the gang members meet them posing as relatives or friends and bribing the police, he added.

The video-conferencing system will hit the additional earning of jail guards and police escorts pocket while ferrying the inmates to courts.

Another source in Arthur Road jail said, “Sometimes, the police officers also pay the prisoners and use them as their informants to get information about the underworld gangs. The VCS will make it difficult for the police to meet their sources within the jails and this could affect police operation.”

“The jail guards or the policemen allegedly take money from family members of the undertrial prisoners as well as the inmates to allow them to meet during the transit for the court hearings,” said a police source.