Jail to go ahead with biometric entry

The system for inmates’ relatives will be implemented full- fledged at Taloja jail from next month

The biometric entry for relatives of the inmates which was introduced at Taloja jail on trial basis in October last year appears to be success.

There will be full- fledged implementation of the system from next month, said a senior officer from jail.

A biometric system is a technological system that uses information about a person (or other biological organism) to identify that person. Biometric systems rely on specific data about unique biological traits to work effectively.

In the system, a family member of an inmate has to show documents to prove his identity in the first visit. The jail authority takes his thumb impression and feeds it into the system.

In the next visit, the system matches his thumb impression with the previous one and only then is he allowed to meet the inmate. The family members do not have to keep showing the documents. It will curb the menace of meeting inmates with fake documents, the officials said.

“This system was installed in October last year to beef up the security and prevent illegal activities inside the jail. We started the system on a trial basis. However, it has appeared to be helpful. Therefore, we have decided to implement it full- fledged from next month,” said an official from the jail.

“We allow only family members of prisoners to meet them in the jail. The family can meet an undertrial prisoner once a week and they can meet a convict twice a month,” he added.

The jail has a temporary shed where the family members wait to meet the inmates.

The jail authorities have written to the public work department (PWD) to construct a wait- ing room with all basic amenities for the people.

The Taloja jail can accommodate a total of 2,124 inmates.

Of the 1,800 inmates lodged here, around 60% of them are from the places like Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Dombivli among others.

Several members of t he underworld gangs such as Chhota Rajan, Ravi Pujari and Bharat Nepali gang have been kept in the jail.