Prisoners are sitting ducks here

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If someone wants to kill a terrorist or some high profile prisoner lodged in the district jail here, it’s easy for him to gun his target down.

All that the assailant needs to do is to get atop one of the high-rise apartments facing the jail complex in Kakkanad, which provide a clear view of the target. Yes, these apartments pose a major threat to the lives of the prisoners.

Prison officials say the apartment dwellers can watch and even videograph all the activities taking place in the jail, which houses around 200 prisoners.

“It’s become a matter of concern for us because some of the prisoners, particularly those involved in terrorist cases, have many enemies waiting outside”, said an official. The jail complex, till recently, had housed 16 notorious prisoners including Thadiyantavida Naseer and his aides facing trial over the Kashmir recruitment case.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) and police officials have already brought the serious safety lapse to the notice of the higher officials. “It was in this backdrop that dreaded prisoners including Naseer were shifted out of this jail”, jail sources said.

Interestingly, DGP Jacob Punnoose had directed the jail officials to provide maximum security to the jail inmates. Despite this, except for covering the jail premises with a few tarpaulins, the officials are doing nothing concrete to seal the gaping holes in the security apparatus.

“We identified some vulnerable spots and covered them with tarpaulins, so that, it won’t be possible for anyone to have a view of the prison area from the high-rise apartments,” officials said. But, would the tarpaulins withstand a bomb in case someone decides to drop one into the jail complex?