Focus shifts to prison security in Orissa

BHUBANESWAR: (visakeo)-Sunday's daring jailbreak at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh has prompted the Orissa Prison Administration to take a fresh look at its security setup so that such incident can be thwarted in the State. Since jailbreaks are not new to the State - R Udaygiri has seen it twice - the Prison Administration has decided to set up a control room at the State headquarters to keep vigil.
Since most prisons in the State are understaffed and security measures fall short of the mark, the administration has decided to come up with a control room at the earliest.
"Since the five to six hours in the night are the critical period for the jails, the control room would be able to stay connected with district jails and pass information as and when necessary," said IG (Prisons) V Thiagarajan, when contacted on Monday.the total number of suspected Naxal cadre members in Orissa jails is close to 70 and they have been lodged strategically so as not to allow regrouping, sources said.The prison authorities are also planning to install jammers at select high security wards of the prisons instead of using the facility for the entire secured area.However, a spate of 'unusual' incidents just before Dantewada jailbreak is worrying the jail administration.
Sources said a group of inmates at Koraput jail launched an agitation over a spate of petty problems and things reached a flashpoint when they persuaded the rest to shut themselves out of the reach of the prison staff for two to three days. "It was a touch-and-go situation for the district jail administration since anything could have happened from that point. Something was brewing for sure," sources said.The State has 70 jails with about 14,400 inmates, convicts and undertrial prisoners though scheduled accommodation is meant for just about 10,000. But more than overcrowding, it is shortage of staff that is causing concern. At present, there are just 1,383 warders, 124 head warders and 300 officers with the State Prison Directorate and Correctional Services.The State Government has built 21 more prisons to ease the pressure on the existing ones but in the absence of staff, the jails cannot be made operational. A proposal to recruit 567 new staff is pending clearance.
The incident led to tension in the area and Khurda police had to send in a unit to keep watch on the situation.DFO, Khurda G Rajesh and DFO, Chilika Abhimanyu Behera were camping near the village in a bid to drive the pachyderms back towards Chandaka. Five squads have been constituted for this purpose. "We're trying to block the passages of the jumbos so that they go back to the route they took while coming this way. Elephants always follow the same path," Rajesh said.At least four herds numbering about 42 - all from Chandaka - have come out of the sanctuary and strayed. Two herds, comprising 25 elephants, are near Jaripat, a bordering area of Khurda and Nayagarh while another herd of eight is at Pitapalli.