Drugs, mobiles accessible to Central Jail inmates

Drugs, mobiles accessible to Central Jail inmates
Security check slack; jail officials accused of corruption
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

A file photo of Central Jail, Bathinda.

Bathinda, September 27
The Central Jail, Bathinda, is ‘prisoner-friendly’ with money opening the doors to “luxury” for them. Either you talk about the inflow of drugs and mobile phones or the special treatment to prisoners, everything is allegedly possible here.
Though the jail had earlier too come under the scanner, after a complaint was placed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court about a year back, except for the transfer of the then jail superintendent, it failed to bring any further reform in the functioning here.
During a discreet investigation conducted by The Tribune, it was observed that meeting a prisoner and handing over something to him was not a difficult task. Since entering the main gate of the jail premises till meeting the prisoner in the visitor’s room, there was no frisking and the lone security guard sitting outside the meeting room was also not much attentive.
Besides, the visitors were not even being asked about the official stamp on their hands (an approval to meet the prisoner after getting their name entered in a register), which was otherwise mandatory.
Though the jail authorities had imposed a strict ban on taking any mobile phone or camera inside the meeting room, a man was witnessed using a mobile phone there. Further, checking the carry bags containing eatables and clothes for the prisoners was also a mere formality.
Meanwhile, relatives of some of the kin sitting outside rued that even after waiting for their kin lodged in the jail since 9.30 am, they were returning disappointed as the jail staff did not call them in the meeting room. “It hardly matters whether your kin’s name is in the first list or last, you just grease the palm of the staff and meet him whenever you wish to,” they lamented, adding that, “the rules allow one to meet an undertrial thrice a week but it can be extended up to six days a week after paying a ‘special fee’ to the staff posted here.”
Further, an elderly man accused a senior official of the jail of having close proximity to a ruling party leader. He accused the official of arranging meetings of his acquaintances and persons carrying slip of a senior SAD (B) leader with the prisoners even in his office.
Besides, relatives of the prisoners informed that their kin told them that the jail was packed much beyond its capacity and the living conditions were not according to the norms.
Meanwhile, it was witnessed that a woman carrying a bottle of an anti-allergic medicine entered the visitors’ room. On being asked, she replied, “During the previous visit, my son had asked me to bring the same as he was not getting proper treatment inside the jail.”
On his part, jail superintendent Sukhdev Singh Saggu refuted the allegations of corruption prevailing in the jail. He also denied any inadequacy in the medical assistance in the jail. However, he admitted that drugs and mobile phones were reaching inside the jail.
“But the fault is not intentional on the part of the jail staff as they strictly check the visitors and prisoners. Despite adopting advanced tactics, some of them succeed in taking inside the banned objects. Though we try our best to check the problem, there are a number of gadgets and staff required to tackle things in a better way,” said the jail superintendent.