The state prisons department has sent a proposal to the home ministry requesting four trained dogs — with abilities of police dogs — to each jail to track down suspicious/illegal objects inside prisons, as well as fleeing inmates
Illustration /Uday Mohite
Pune: State prisons may soon be able to sniff out runaway jailbirds. The state prisons department has sent a proposal to the home ministry requesting four trained dogs — with abilities of police dogs — to each jail to track down suspicious/illegal objects inside prisons, as well as fleeing inmates.
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Police dogs are trained to assist cops and other law-enforcement personnel in their work. Their duties include searching for drugs and explosives, looking for crime scene evidence, and protecting their handlers.
Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, additional director general of police and inspector general of prisons and correctional service, said prison dogs, if sanctioned, could help jail officials with night patrols, sniff out drugs and chase fleeing inmates. "Dogs are an intrinsic part of police teams, and we’d like them to assist our officials, too. We have asked the home department to launch a pilot project at the Yerawada Central Prison and depending on its success, extend it to other prisons."
Another officer pointed out that police dogs have successfully exposed criminal activities and tracked criminals time and again. "Internationally, dogs are part of police patrol teams, too. Considering that prisons are spread over acres of land, it’s difficult for policemen to nab an escaping jail inmate. Here’s where dogs can help out. And if an inmate still manages to escape, we can track him/her down with the help of dogs."
The state has 9 central prisons, 31 district jails, 13 open jails, an open colony and 172 sub-jails, all with a collective inmate strength of around 5,000.
In 2015, five criminals escaped from the high-security Nagpur Central Prison, and prison authorities have repeatedly found drugs, mobile phones and other banned goods on inmates even after putting them through stringent checks (scanners, and checking their shoes, teeth and private parts). These prompted the formation of a committee by the state government last year which recommended that prisons’ security system be upgraded with jammers, CCTV cameras, night vision binoculars, a highly-advanced control room and other modern technology. These are expected to be provided to all state prisons soon.
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