Mobile use by inmates unabated at Faridkot jail, 16 seized in 6 days

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, August 2
Mobile phone usage by inmates continues unabated at Faridkot Central Jail despite the state government’s claims of having addressed the issue. Over the last six days, 18 phones were seized from the Faridkot jail which houses over 2,200 inmates, including many gangsters.
On average, 250 to 300 mobile phones are seized in this jail every year.
Though the state government had directed the prison officials to explore technological interventions to stop the usage of mobile phones and look into the call history to probe the links between inmates and outsiders, all actions remain inconclusive.
After numerous ‘abandoned’ mobile phones were seized in the jail premises this year, the authorities discovered phones were being tossed in over the 30-ft boundary wall. “To address this, guards were deployed at vulnerable points on the prison’s inner perimeter. However, the seizures have continued,” a senior police officer said.
This has not only left enforcement agencies baffled but has also put the jail authorities under scanner.
The issue is allegedly being taken casually, ending with registration of an innocuous criminal case against the person from whom the phone is seized or a case against unknown person in the case of an abandoned phone.
Sources said most of the abandoned phones are seized from bathrooms. The inmates dump the phones when the jail personnel go about searching for illegal articles.
The practice continues unabated as there has been no investigation undertaken to trace contacts based on the call log.