271 phone jammers, 2,800 CCTV cameras installed in Uttar Pradesh's 24 jails: Officials

LUCKNOW: In a bid to stop prisoners from using mobile phones to further their criminal activities, the Uttar Pradesh government has installed 271 jammers in 24 jails of the state, an official said on Wednesday.

The state government has also installed over 2,800 CCTV cameras in those jails to keep an eye over jail inmates' activities, UP's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said in a statement.

Awasthi said besides installing 3G capacity jammers and over 2,800 CCTV cameras, a command centre too has been established at the Prisons Headquarters for the high-level monitoring of activities inside jails.

Director General (Prisons) Anand Kumar said the main aim of the department is to ensure that the inmates stay safe in jail and their behaviour is improved so that they can lead respectable life after their release.

"For this, programmes on complete literacy, educational enhancement and skill development are also undertaken," he said, adding a total of 1,204 inmates last year cleared exams of classes 5 to 8.

"A total of 71 inmates cleared class 10 exam and 52 class 12 exam," he said, adding over 1,200 inmates have also cleared various exams from IGNOU. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, around 2.25 lakh inmates were tested and adequate care of 12,500 infected inmates was taken, he added.

"As many as 85 temporary jails have been made in the state and face masks worth over Rs 21.70 lakh and 3,000 PPE kits were produced in the jails," Kumar added.