Cabinet clears AI surveillance cameras and portable signal jammers for prisons

Following several instances of mobile phone usage within Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, the State Cabinet has decided to equip prisons with AI-based surveillance cameras and portable signal jammers. Home Minister Priyanka Kharge announced this modernisation plan on Friday, asserting that it will enhance surveillance and curb unauthorized communication inside prisons.

The technology aims to offer prison authorities better monitoring capabilities, while regulated calling facilities will grant inmates controlled access to telephone services.

However, this decision has raised concerns among residents in the vicinity of the prison complex, who have been grappling with persistent network disruptions due to jammers at the jail. These individuals fear that expanding the use of jammers may exacerbate their existing predicament, for which they have been seeking authorities' intervention without success.

Mohan Kumar, a resident and employee of a private firm, expressed his distress over the situation, stating that the jammers are obstructing signals outside the prison instead of being confined to the premises.

Moreover, residents have reported that mobile connectivity becomes notably unreliable in the areas surrounding the prison, impacting phone calls, OTP-based transactions, Wi-Fi connectivity, and various other internet-dependent services. On July 21, BJP MP C.N. Manjunath had written to Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, urging his intervention regarding the network disruption caused by the prison's jammers.