Staff crunch takes toll on Telangana Prisons department

​Hyderabad: Telangana prisons department is suffering from serious staff crunch. Though this issue has been raised time and again by the middle level officials, the higher-ups never voiced their ire against successive governments. The quality of prisons administration has been badly hit due to manpower crunch and corruption has taken a centre stage. But higher officials have always tried to keep this issue under wraps.

According to statistics, the department has a sanctioned strength of 1,922 employees. This includes all categories of staff – warders, jailors, superintendents, DIGs, IGs, clerical cadre, home guards, outsourced employees and the head of prison department.

However, the actual strength available is only 1,487. Thus, there is a shortage of 435 employees out of the sanctioned strength. A little less than 1,500 prison personnel of all categories should take care of over 6,000 prisoners confined in 42 prisons, round the clock.

Statistics show that Telangana prisons have seen 62,608 admissions during 2016. The inmates include convicts, under trial prisoners, terror operatives and other hard core criminals. Despite this situation, successive governments have not paid attention to ensure adequate number of manpower to prisons
department.

In this background, the higher-ups of the department have come out with a proposal to use technology as a force multiplier keeping in view the Union and the State governments’ initiatives towards modernisation of police force.

Accordingly, the prisons department has sent a proposal to the government with an outlay of Rs 30 crore for the procurement and installation of gadgets. In response, the State government has released Rs 10 crore as the first installment during the 2016-17 financial year.

“We have decided to install 1,100 CCTV cameras in the 42 prisons which will be connected to the Master Control Room that will be set up at the department’s headquarters in Hyderabad and monitored by the top officials,” Director General of Prisons Department, V K Singh said.

He also said that Command Control Rooms would be set up in district prisons to monitor the CCTV visuals in the prisons. This will bring complete transparency in the administration and lessen the burden on the prison staff.

Singh further said that as many as 300 walkie-talkies, 200 metal detectors and three luggage scanners would be procured for use by the prison staff. This will bring significant change in communication and ensure better performance by the staff, he said.

The suppliers have been identified and the process of acquiring and installing the gadgets in a phased manner has already been initiated, he said.