A five-member expert team of the Israel Prison Service visited the Central Jail in Nagpur recently, following Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s request to help set up foolproof security in the jail here. Fadnavis also holds home and jail portfolios and apparently had to face embarrassment when Nagpur Central Jail was in the news for jailbreak by five hardened criminals last year.
During his visit to Israel last year, Fadnavis was impressed by the security systems deployed in that country. He invited their security agencies to upgrade jail security in Maharashtra. Later, a team of prison and police officials from the state also visited Israel for the purpose. In a follow-up action, the state decided to go ahead with upgrade of prison security using Israeli expertise. Nagpur Central jail will be a taken up as a pilot. If the project here is successful, it would be replicated in Arthur Road prison in Mumbai and Pune’s Yerawada jail.
The Israel officials who came here to inspect the jail included Lt Col Regev Daharug, Lt Col Eli Barlev (both from Israel Prison Service), Nathan Reuven, Barry Zebrak and Zahi Presman of Israel Ministry of Defence. Maharashttra’s Additional Director General of Police Dr Bhushan Upadhayay was present during the visit. A salient feature of the Israeli security is use of specially trained dogs guarding the cells and also detecting of drugs and forbidden material smuggled into prisons.
The local staff may be trained for this purpose. Sources said Israelis could provide technical support to set up powerful jammers, high quality CCTVs, cyber-fencing and mobile detectors. Besides, they would provide special training to prison staff for monitoring and supervising security. The state prisons department would send a detailed proposal to the government in this regard soon. “We are expecting to begin the work here with Israeli agencies in a couple of months after all necessary approvals,” said Upadhyay.
