Capt govt junks proposal to install jammers in jails
Experts opine it’s a failed idea, citing experiences of Gujarat and Rajasthan govts
CHANDIGARH: Three years after mooting the proposal to install mobile phone jammers in jails, the Punjab prisons department has finally dumped the idea.
The latest adverse comment about jammers inside prisons came from newly appointed adviser to prisons department, Telangana ex-police chief VK Singh, who termed it a “failed idea”. A jammer is a mobile communication device that transmits the same frequency as a cell-phone does to create strong cell tower interference and block cell-phone signals and call transmission.
In a recent interview to Hindustan Times, VK Singh had said that jammers could not yield desired results in Gujarat despite the government having spent liberally on the project.
As per a senior functionary of the police department, there was hardly any discussion on the proposal now in the department. The main point is that installing jammers is a very costly idea as one machine costs around ₹1.7 crore and the total requirement to buy jammers for all jails will be around ₹30 crore.
As per the official, Rajasthan too had spent more than ₹20 crore in the recent past on jammers but the idea failed.
“Leave aside the cost as state has enough funds to man the jails, our experts were not fully convinced that the jammers can stop the use of mobile phones in jails. Still, we have not dumped the proposal yet and BSNL has been requested to give its quotations to install a few jammers, but confusion still prevails,” said jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa.
He said some experts also said that jammers can create problems in the mobile connectivity to the civilians living around the jail complexes. “It can be a successful idea where jails are situated at isolated locations, like in Bathinda,” he said.
Experts also pointed out that there can be some black spots which the inmates can use to make calls even when the jammers are operational.
Immediately after taking reins of the jails department, minister Sukhjinder Randhawa in 2018 had announced to install 4-G jammers inside jails.
Of jails and jammers
Punjab has 26 jails, including 10 Central jails.
Idea to install 4-G jammers was mooted by Capt Amarinder government after a series of reports on open use of mobile phones inside jails.
Newly appointed adviser to prisons department, Telangana ex-police chief VK Singh, termed it a “failed idea”.
Amritsar, Ludhiana and Ferozepur jails are considered most notorious as far as use of mobile phones is concerned.
Inmates use various methods to get access to mobile phones inside prisons, including bribing the officials and concealing instruments in their rectum on way back from court hearings.