Bhubaneswar: The state government is mulling over a proposal of Odisha Prisons directorate to supply body-worn cameras to the jail and correctional home staffers to deal with the allegations like custodial torture and illegal activities on these premises.
Speaking on the issue, Director General (DG), Prisons, Santosh Upadhyay revealed that the directorate is coordinating with the state Home department to implement the scheme soon in some prominent jails of the state on a pilot basis. The department would procure body-worn cameras after the Home department’s nod in this regard.
Upadhyay also informed Orissa POST that the Prison DGs of various states held an elaborate discussion on the issue of body cameras for jail employees at a meeting held recently.
The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) has also released a model Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the implementation of the scheme in states.
As per the SOP, the cameras should be worn by all the prison staffers, including Executive, Medical, Correctional, and Ministerial, who have regularly been coming in contact with the inmates. The Prisons directorates have been instructed to impart special training to jail staffers for proper use of the cameras attached to their uniforms.
The SOP also advised the officials to set up a separate control room inside the prisons for ‘monitoring, recording, storage of the recorded data’. A senior officer would also be assigned to analyse the data recorded through the cameras on a regular basis. The data would be kept at least for seven days at the control room for examination.
The move holds significance as the relatives of inmates, who are found dead inside the jails, often allege torture by the jail staffers.
Notably, body-worn cameras are being utilised in India mainly by the traffic personnel and police deployed to maintain law and order so as to counter allegations of police highhandedness.