Govt plans to attach RFID tags to legs of convicts which will help in tracing them should they decide to abscond,
Mumbai : In a bid to tackle the increased cases of convicts jumping parole and furlough violations in the state, the Maharashtra Government has decided to use radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on prisoners serving time in its prisons.
The Fadnavis government on Saturday decided to set up a committee to recommend comprehensive measures to prevent convicts from jumping parole or furlough. According to a senior state government official, they plan to put a bracket containing electronic chips on the ankle of the convict being released on parole or furlough. The bracelet will help trace the convict’s location and will alert jail officials if it is removed.
Earlier in the year, the state government was embarrassed after Sajjad Mogul, who was convicted for the murder of city-based lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha, jumped parole and became untraceable.
According to officials, as on July 2016, over 600 prisoners are absconding after they were released on parole or furlough. Around 29,000 inmates in cases of serious offences are lodged in 44 prisons across the state, including 9,000 convicts.
Meanwhile, the committee will also look into the feasibility of implanting RFID chips on the person of a convicted prisoner to track them by GPS. “The proposal of implanting a chip will be met with a lot of opposition as concerns over privacy and health risks associated with it will be raised. So the government might go ahead with putting up a band around the ankle of the convict and he or she can be tracked via GPS. We are still studying its feasibility,”
said an official requesting anonymity. RFID chips are as long as two grain of rice and are surgically inserted under the skin of offenders.
The official added that the government is also considering conducting iris scans of new prisoners and gradually add scans of serving convicts. Currently, the process of collecting biometric data of prisoners using fingerprint readers is under way and it is likely to be completed by the year end.
