The Odisha Prisons Directorate has decided to install high tech drone systems for stricter aerial surveillance on inmates of the jail and other activities in the prisons.
State DG, Prisons, Santosh Upadhaya informed OTV about the major decision on the tech upgradation at some of the sensitive prisons in the State.
The drones which will be operated from a control room will help mount watch over unlawful activities, hardcore prisoners and also monitor other unwanted developments in the sprawling premises of the jails that are not covered under the CCTV surveillance.
The proposed drone service will function in line with some of the most sensitive prisons in Uttar Pradesh.
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Upadhaya said that the process for procurement of the drone cameras has been completed. As per the initial estimate, each drone set up will cost around Rs 4 lakh.
This apart, the Jharpada Special Jail in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack Choudwar Circle Jail will soon have prisoner calling system just like the one set up for inmates at the Tihar Jail.
Under the new system, biometric details of all prisoners will be collected and each one of them will be asked to provide two telephone contact numbers of their family or acquaintances with whom they would like to speak. After verification, the numbers will be fed into the calling system.
A prisoner will be allowed to talk for a maximum of five minutes and pay Rs 5 per call. The facility will have auto-disconnection system.
The new calling system which will be gradually expanded to other jails will help curb misuses of existing phone systems where inmates have often been found allegedly making illegal contacts, he said.