Tamil Nadu has deployed armed personnel to guard watchtowers around nine central prisons, five special prisons for women and 13 district jails after 17 prisoners escaped from Theni sub-jail, according to a report by The Times of India. The personnel have been instructed to prevent escape attempts and have been given permission to open fire under the directions issued by the prisons department.
The security escalation began after the Theni incident and is being implemented across the state’s major prison facilities. Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel and prison staff assigned to perimeter watchtowers have been issued self-loading rifles, or SLRs, from the department’s armoury. Armed personnel began guarding watchtowers at central prisons on Tuesday, with the arrangement extended to district jails from Wednesday, the report said.
A senior prison official told The Times of India that each central and district prison typically has five to six watchtowers, which will now be manned round the clock by armed personnel. The official said the deployment was intended to thwart escape attempts and that personnel had been instructed to open fire if a prisoner attempted to flee.
Director general of prisons and correctional services Sandeep Rai Rathore has issued instructions relating to the use of force, the report said. Rathore, however, stated that the deployment would depend on security requirements and the prevailing situation. “Depending on the security requirements and prevailing situation, watchtower personnel will be armed as a preventive measure,” he said.
The department has also cancelled personnel leave, directed staff to report for duty immediately and instructed them to carry batons. A standard operating procedure to prevent jailbreaks and prisoner escapes has been issued as part of the wider response.
The security measures cover a prison system comprising 125 institutions: nine central prisons, five special prisons for women, 13 district jails, 82 sub-jails for men, two special sub-jails each for men and women, three open-air prisons and a young offender correctional facility. The authorised capacity across the system is 24,148 inmates, while the prison population is around 23,600.
The overall population remains below the state-wide authorised capacity, but occupancy is uneven across facilities. Central prisons in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, along with several district prisons in southern Tamil Nadu, are operating at between 115% and 150% of sanctioned capacity. This uneven distribution has added to the security pressures faced by individual facilities, according to the report.
The prisons department has been conducting a security audit for the past week. Rathore said the audit reports were expected by the end of the month, after which the department would undertake a gap analysis and take further decisions to strengthen prison security and address vulnerabilities.
