Taking note of incidents of high-risk prisoners taking advantage of spots not covered by CCTV cameras, also known as blind spots, Delhi prison authorities are planning to install more than 1,200 CCTVs on the prison premises, all of them with Artificial Intelligence (AI) compatibility, to keep a tab on such inmates, officers said.
A senior jail official said, “We carried out a survey and saw that were several black spots or areas which were not under CCTV coverage and where prisoners carry out illegal activities like making phone calls or being involved in physical assault…now we have procured around 1,248 CCTV cameras, which will be installed across the three prison premises.”
The official said, “These cameras come with AI compatibility with facial recognition which will detect movement and characteristics of prisoners, especially those who are high-risk ones, and alert us if they are indulging in any wrongdoing…” The official said the AI software is currently being tested on a trial basis. “It will soon be rolled out along with these CCTV cameras…,” the official said.
The official said that currently, there are 7,500 cameras across the three jails. “More CCTV cameras will help jail guards respond quickly to incidents like assaults or usage of phones and help bring the situation under control in a better manner,” said the jail official. Another official said that 15 mobile phone jammers are being procured for high-security prisons of the Tihar jail premises. “We already have three dominant towers or jammers, also known as the Tower of Harmonious Call Blocking System, inside Tihar prison and the other two jails. But, it was observed that prisoners often end up making phone calls even if they get very low signal at some spot. These 15 jammers will act as additional support or backup…most call possibilities arise from high-security prisons and hence these jammers, which we are procuring from Bharat Electronics Limited, will be installed there,” said the official.
Prison authorities are procuring 10 more Non-Linear Junction Detectors, which will help them detect any phone or electronic device usually hidden inside prison walls or floors. “The device helps detect presence of any electronics…there are also around 10 narcotics dogs trained by CRPF and deployed on the three jail premises. They help sniff out any suspicious object or narcotic contraband and their duties have been intensified in searches…,” an official said.
“The PWD is installing grilles on different floors of the high-security prison, jail number 8 and 9, where notorious gangster Tillu Tajpuria was killed allegedly by inmates, to curb the possibility of any inmate jumping from any of the floors (to attack another prisoner),” the official added.
