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Eerie silence prevails inside prison complex

Curbs: Notice announcing restrictions imposed on essential articles given to prisoners on the gate of the Central Prison in Puducherry.

PUDUCHERRY: The huge gates of the 153-year-old Puducherry Central Prison on Thursday bore two notifications. One screamed, “Cell phones not allowed” while another alerted on the restrictions imposed on a total of 16 eatables and other essential items brought by visitors.

An eerie silence prevailed inside the prison complex. But the undercurrent of protest by a section of jail inmates could be felt outside with a total of 16 of the 57 prisoners who were on an “indefinite fast” to highlight their demands, getting admitted to the Government General Hospital.

Though there had been frequent unrest in the Central Prison for the last couple of years, the present one assumed a new dimension with some political parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bahujan Samaj Party, staging protests in support of the prisoners who had been observing the protest fast from Monday evening.

According to Durga Prasad, Chief Superintendent of Jails, the seizure of a mobile phone from a prisoner a couple of years ago became the fountainhead of the unrest. The phone was smuggled into the jail, concealed in a book.

Recently, prison personnel detected eight mobile phones and phone battery chargers under the possession of some prisoners. Novel methods were adopted to bring in the mobile phones. In one of the cases, two mobile phones were concealed inside the rubber sole of a pair of new slippers presented to a prisoner by a visitor. Totally 10 cases had been booked in connection with smuggling of cell phones into the prison, jail authorities said.

Only against the backdrop of these incidents, restrictions were imposed on November 2 on the quantity of eatables and other essential items brought by the relatives of the prisoners, Mr. Prasad said, adding that the one-man commission that went into the death of three prisoners also recommended a complete ban on the same.

Strongly defending the restrictions and posting of Indian Reserve Battalion personnel in the prison to check the articles supplied by the visitors, he said these measures had brought about a certain amount of discipline in the system.

Referring to the charge relating to denial of parole to some prisoners, Mr. Prasad said these persons were found in possession of cell phones. They were judicially proceeded against by lodging of complaints with the Chief Judicial Magistrate. “Since their conduct was not proper, they were asked to improve before consideration of any application for parole submitted by them. They took offence at this and were making false allegations of harassment by jail officers,” he added.

He also clarified that further action against reinstated Jail Superintendent N. Jayagandan and others in the case relating to the death of three prisoners in 2005 was possible only after completion of the departmental enquiry against them.

The best possible facilities were being given to the prisoners with due regard for their rights and no complaint had been received on any ground in the recent past, Mr. Prasad said.

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