Central surveillance room: Punjab IGP Prisons says 27 jails put under ‘microscope’

LAHORE: To ensure real-time surveillance of suspected activities inside and outside jails in addition to awarding evidence-based punishments to negligent or corrupt officials, a central control and surveillance room has been established at the Inspectorate of the Punjab prisons which would work 24/7.

The establishment of the room is a part of the prisons department’s ongoing “security surveillance solution” project under which security of inmates, visitors and officials in all the 41 prisons across Punjab would be highly secured (like in developed countries) with the use of sophisticated technology besides integrating it with other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to ensure seamless service delivery.

Initially, the surveillance room has been given access to the CCTV cameras successfully installed in 27 out of 41 jails while work to install the same in the remaining prisons was under way. The system has also been given access to the prisons department’s recently developed “Prisons Management Information System” (PMIS) under which data of every inmate, visitor and official is being maintained.

Through the PMIS system, the prison department can check how many people check-in in any jail on regular basis and what they brought with them and offered to their incarcerated friends or family members and their activities. It also contains detailed medical history of every prisoner, their status of confinement and trial. Similarly, the system has also access to the service record of every employee and the status of their appeals or punishments, if any.

Talking to Business Recorder on Thursday, Punjab Inspector General for Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig said this is the one of its kind project as no province in the country has so far been able to install this sophisticated technology. He said the system would help them curbing corruption in addition to awarding evidence-based punishments to the negligent officials.

“Currently, CCTV cameras in 27 out of 41 jails have been installed and liked with this system while we are in talks with the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) to complete this project in the remaining prisons,” he said.

Highlighting positive effects of the latest technology, the IG prison said that personnel deployed at the surveillance room today informed him about some suspicious activities they spotted in some jails and he subsequently took notice of it. After going through the digital evidences, Shahid said he immediately awarded different punishments to the negligent officers, some of whom were spotted taking bribes.

Sharing details of the actions, the IG said he withdrew annual increment of Gujranwala Central Jail Assistant Superintendent Jail (ASJ) Rafaqat Ali after he was found negligent in performing his duties. Similarly, Waqas Rafiq, Warder of Hafizabad District Jail, has been terminated from service after he was spotted taking bribe from an inmate in the CCTV cameras, he added.

“To ensure a high quality emergency response system, we had proposed to the government to synchronize this system with other law enforcement agencies such as police, prosecution, judiciary and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to make this a flagship project with regards to prisons (and police) reforms,” he disclosed.

However, despite a lapse of over an year, talks with the stakeholders, including IT experts, could not reach a positive conclusion in this regard, he said, adding that if the system is synchronized with the criminal record management system (CRMS) of police then an automated alert would be generated to them if any wanted or absconder person visits jail.

Meanwhile, this correspondent accompanied by IG Shahid visited the facility where the field commanders demonstrated how the system works.

Later, Business Recorder also visited the centrally controlled complaint cell where inmates lodge their complaints directly in case of any grievance against the concerned jail officials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021