Bareilly jail was preparing for ‘unknown guests’ for a month

BAREILLY: Authorities at the district jail here had been asked a month in advance to make necessary preparation to house some ‘high-profile’ prisoners, but they had not been told who these prisoners would be. According to jail superintendent UK Mishra, district magistrate VK Singh and senior superintendent of police Muniraj G had also visited the prison complex to take stock of the arrangements but they, too, were clueless about government’s move.
“We had been told to shift local inmates kept in isolation ward to somewhere else.Nobody knew that who are the new prisoners and where were they going to come from,” he said. On August 10, 20 inmates from various jails of Jammu and Kashmir were shifted to Bareilly district jail.
As part of the preparation, the entire campus had been covered with over 200 pan-tilt-zoom security cameras which are capable of having remote directional and zoom control. PTZ cameras were also installed at isolation cells where this prisoners from the Valley have been kept to keep a close eye on their activities. These prisoners are not allowed to meet with other inmates.
A top jail official said that in Agra, Kashmir prisoners have been kept in Central jail while in Bareilly, district jail was given preference due to several reasons. “First of all, this prison has a new complex having all latest technology and other infrastructure. Besides, the number of inmates is well below capacity," he said. Against the capacity of 4,000, the Bareilly district jail at present has 2,718 inmates.
On Monday, the J&K prisoners offered namaz in the morning and the jail staff extended greetings on the occasion of Eid-ul-Zuha, as it happens on every festival. Jail officials say that these prisoners may have difficulties in acclimatizing to UP weather conditions.