Ten cellphones have been recovered from Vadodara jail in February alone

The authorities of different jails in the state, including the Vadodara central jail, are at their wit's end. Despite their vigilance and strict security measures, prisoners continue to find new ways to smuggle mobile phones into the prisons. The authorities of Vadodara central jail seized or recovered more than 10 cellphones in the month of February alone.

Exasperated with the situation, the state's prison authorities have announced that jail officials who seize mobile phones from prisoners would be awarded and officially felicitated.

Additional director-general (prisons), Rajan Priyadarshi, told DNA that a special drive to seize mobile phones from prisoners had been launched at all the prisons of the state. "The jail authorities have been directed to stay alert and seize cellphones smuggled into the jails by the prisoners," said Priyadarshi. "We have already announced that officers who seize mobile phones would be felicitated. We will also conduct an enquiry to identify the officials who are lax in enforcing rules so that action can be taken against them."

Jammers were installed at Vadodara central jail in February after several cellphones were seized or recovered from the jail premises. It was thought that the jammers would prevent prisoners from using the cellphones that had somehow escaped officials' attention during their searches.

Despite the jammers, however, cellphones have continued to surface in Vadodara central jail with embarrassing regularity. In some cases, the officials have found that prisoners had smuggled in not cellphones but just the sim cards. Sources at the prison said that, after every drive against the illegal use of cellphones in the jail, the prisoners just found new ways of smuggling and hiding the phones.

Talking about the jammers installed at Vadodara central jail, Priyadarshi said the authorities had tried to bring every area of the prison within the range of the jammers. "But there are some nooks and corners where the jammers are not effective," he said. "Moreover, if we use more powerful jammers, they will interfere with cellphone signals in areas outside the jail. This will cause much inconvenience to the residents of the area."

Since January 1, 2009, Vadodara central jail officials have, in all, seized 16 mobile phones. In this period, they have also found 4 sim cards abandoned at different places in the prison. The fact that so many cellphones have been recovered in the prison in less than two months, indicates that some officials of Vadodara central jail are not doing their duty sincerely.

Maulik Buch/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication