No longer will state jail staff members be in a position to conceal crimes committed by inmates or against inmates inside the jail premises. The Prisons department has decided to set up a control room at Prison Headquarters in Lucknow,where jail staff members from all the districts will now have to provide information regarding every such incident and inmates involved in the incident and that too at an interval of every 48 hours. According to an official,the jail staff will have to send detailed report about the MPs,MLAs and MLCs who are lodged in or released from the jail every 48 hours. Similar report about terrorists and other inmates will also have to be provided along with the total number of inmates present in the jail at the time of the counting. Inspector General (Prisons) Sulkhan Singh has issued circular to all the jail authorities making it mandatory for them to provide such details. It often happens that inmates enter into a clash within the jail premises. In such cases,the jail staff does not report to the seniors, said Singh. It creates an embarrassing situation when senior authorities inquire about it after receiving reports from the media or a third person, Singh said. According to Singh,the control room will have two people deputed in the control room to collect these information sent from the other jails. If the jail staff ignores the order and does not provide the necessary details,they will have to face strict action, he added. The order states that jail staff members will also have to inform about the deaths of the inmates the cause escape attempts,crime committed by them or against them in the jail and force used to control them after any violence. Aides of influential personalities like MPs,MLAs and MLCs who are lodged in the jail often create ruckus and enters into clash with the other inmates. Due to the clout they wield,jail staffs often conceal such incidents, said an official in a Lucknow jail. They do the same when prisoners stage a hunger strike. With the new order in effect,this will not be possible, he added.
