PHOTO: FILE
The bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, was hearing a petition filed by a civil rights litigant, Rana Faizul Hasan, who had sought direction for the chief secretary, provincial secretaries of prison, home and law departments to ensure that none of the prisoners were allowed to use cell phones at any of the prisons in the province.
According to him, the Karachi Central prison houses around 4,500 inmates including high-profile prisoners, terrorists and target killers associated with various political parties.
In his plea, Hasan had submitted that gangsters were operating their network through cellular phones from the prisons, where contraband narcotics were also made available with the connivance of the jail administration. There were reports that some inmates were involved in cases of kidnapping for ransom and other heinous crimes with the help of their aides outside the prisons, he had claimed.
The petitioner submitted that he had made several requests to the authorities for the installation of jammers but the equipment was installed in Central Prison, Karachi, only.
He had pleaded the court to direct the authorities to ensure the installation of cellular phone jammers in all prisons across the province.
During Monday's hearing, a law officer for the provincial government, Rafique Rajvori, suggested that, "It would be in the fitness of things if the Prisons IG made a categorical statement regarding the installation of jammers and use of cell phones by inmates."
At his request, the bench summoned a report from the Prisons IG in this regard and adjourned the hearing till September 1.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2014.
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Cellular telephones in prisons are a worldwide problem. Jamming the cellular frequencies is not a solution. The inmates will only move on to other technology for communications and to stay in touch such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. These operate on different frequencies that cellular telephones.
If a cell phone has made its way into a prison then it only means that their prevention strategy has failed or that there is no prevention strategy in place.
A complete solution is required by prison and custodial authorities that focus on prevention, localisation, detection and neutralisation. The South African company CellDetect™ has designed a strategy that encompasses all four elements. For more information visit www.celldetect.co.za