Punjab prisoners active on Facebook with posts and photos: report

[Manindra]

Hoshiarpur (Punjab): Smuggling of mobile phones in Punjab's prisons is passe! Armed with smart-phones, young prisoners in jails across the state are well-connected with the outside world through social networking sites, especially Facebook.

These prisoners are not only connected with their friends but are freely uploading photographs from inside the prison premises. Some of the photos are those of other prisoners lodged in these jails.

A look at the Facebook accounts of some of the net-savvy prisoners shows that they are not only communicating with others but are also getting comments about life behind bars.
"Kadd bahar aa rahe ho 22 G (when are you coming out brother)," is the question posed on the wall of a prisoner.

"Bro ji jamanat ho gayi ja nahi (brother, have you got bail or not)," asks another post, to which the prisoner replies: "Kithe pharawa andar hi ha asi Pateyale (No brother, we are inside in Patiala)."

A look at the Facebook pages of some of the prisoners shows that they are active on their accounts through smartphones and are uploading photographs of the jail complex, jail barracks and other inmates.

The prisoners are freely indulging in the social networking activity in prisons located in Kapurthala, Patiala, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur, among other places.

One such prisoner is Billa Gujjar from Hoshiarpur. He has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for a kidnapping and has been lodged in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur jails for the last three years.

Some of the other prisoners are Amrinder Singh, Benza Nice, Kharku Jatt and others.

"If this activity is going on in Punjab's prisons, it's a very dangerous thing and has implications for our national security. A number of Pakistani prisoners and those linked with the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) are lodged in these prisoners. Though the social networking sites, these prisoners can link to their handlers in Pakistan," a former Punjab Police officer told IANS, preferring to remain anonymous.

Asked to comment, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) Rajpal Meena said: "I don't know anything about this. IF you have any information, please share it."

Kapurthala Jail Superintendent G.S. Aulakh told IANS: "We have nearly 4,000 prisoners in the jail. It is difficult to monitor and stop all this activity."

Former Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) Shashi Kant, who tried to bring reforms during his tenure, said that smuggling of mobile phones and access to social networking sites could not take place without the connivance of jail officials.

Hoshiarpur's district police chief Sukhchain Singh Gill said: "Under Section 42 of the Jail Manual, no communication is allowed with anyone outside."

The Punjab jails department had, last year, announced starting phone service inside the prisons to enable prisoners to talk to their family members once in a while.

Punjab prisoners active on Facebook with posts and photos: report | NDTV.com

This is called India Shining

 

[Awesome]

Amazing! Wese, some consideration must be given with the improvement in technology to allow prisoners to communicate with the outside world.

Prisoners CAN write letters, right? Why not allow them internet facilities?

 

[PakPrinciples]

Amazing! Wese, some consideration must be given with the improvement in technology to allow prisoners to communicate with the outside world.

Prisoners CAN write letters, right? Why not allow them internet facilities?

This cannot be tolerated and the authorities need to seriously crack down on it if it's true.

When you write a letter while in prison it's not supposed to be private (i.e. the warden of the prison or commanding officer of the jail reads them before they're sent out). You lose almost all rights to privacy when you're incarcerated (you shit, piss and sleep in front of everyone) just about the only thing they let you do in a private room in western prisons is engage in conjugal visits (after you and your partner have been thoroughly searched and you do the deed in a room guards have already checked out) or speak with your lawyer.

If these people have access to emails and Facebook they can send orders out to their goons on the outside (ex. the head of a criminal organization can literally run operations from behind bars with no difficulty), information regarding the details of the prison in case they want to make a prison break and/or information on security staff working on site which could compromise the safety of correctional officers and their families. Prison is a gathering place of societies deviants where you have murderers, rapists, drug dealers, etc... all gathered in one place. Allowing this type of activity can literally turn prisons into men's clubs where illicit deals are forged (you actually hear of this happening in Canada and the US).

To be honest since western prisons allow you to privately speak with lawyers and family there's really no way to stop criminals from actively communicating with the outside world (unless you simply don't allow them to talk to anyone which might be the better way to go though there needs to be someone independent of the prison that monitors prisoners well being in that case).

Regardless, these guys are there to serve time for crimes they committed not watch movies on the internet and chat with friends on Facebook.

 

[Awesome]

This cannot be tolerated and the authorities need to seriously crack down on it if it's true.

When you write a letter while in prison it's not supposed to be private (i.e. the warden of the prison or commanding officer of the jail reads them before they're sent out). You lose almost all rights to privacy when you're incarcerated (you shit, piss and sleep in front of everyone) just about the only thing they let you do in a private room in western prisons is engage in conjugal visits (after you and your partner have been thoroughly searched and you do the deed in a room guards have already checked out).

You can still monitor internet traffic, perhaps even more easily than letter, you can scan for keywords. Using facebook is a lot less difficult than conjugal visits

If these people have access to emails and Facebook they can send orders out to their goons on the outside (ex. the head of a criminal organization can literally run operations from behind bars with no difficulty), information regarding the details of the prison in case they want to make a prison break and/or information on security staff working on site which could compromise the safety of correctional officers and their families. Prison is a gathering place of societies deviants where you have murderers, rapists, drug dealers, etc... all gathered in one place. Allowing this type of activity can literally turn prisons into men's clubs where illicit deals are forged (you actually hear of this happening in Canada and the US).

They can still do that. They have regular visits from outsiders, you can just pass on your instructions through your visitors.

These guys are there to serve time for crimes they committed not watch movies on the internet and chat with friends on Facebook.

This is an old view. The reason prisons exist are not to punish people but to correct them. They are even called correctional facilities in most civilized parts of the world. Janwar ki tarhan rakho ge toh janwar hi bahar niklay ga.

 

[PakPrinciples]

They can still do that. They have regular visits from outsiders, you can just pass on your instructions through your visitors.

I actually updated my response before having a chance to read your reply where I actually touched on that point.

You are correct but what we're talking about is their ability to regularly communicate with the outside world which affords them the ability to have full control over outside criminal organizations and dealings (i.e. if they don't have this ability if something goes wrong they cant be reached and there is a good possibility their illegal operations suffer). I don't know how Pakistani prisons are but in Canada there are only certain days families or friends are allowed to visit (usually around 3 times a week) and the visits can vary in time depending on what kind of visit it is (ex. conjugal visits can be extended for a day or two but regular family/friend visits are about half an hour to an hour long). There are two types of visits one is an "open visit" where you are in a large room with a bunch of tables/chairs and each prisoner can talk with their family/friends (though guards are standing everywhere) or closed visits which are more private but you talk through a phone with some kind of see through polycarbonate barrier in between you (I've been to visit some friends in prison and talked to them this way and I'm pretty sure prison staff monitor your conversation). In most cases here lawyers will only discuss matters relating to the case and will not act as a courier for criminals (i.e. pass on private messages, etc...) and most criminals do not get their family involved in their illicit dealings.

However, allowing them to simply communicate over the net or sit around and watch movies and listen to music all day whenever they want is unacceptable. They are there to serve time for crimes they committed not hang out with other deviants.

Personally, I would rather simply cut off their ability to communicate with the outside world all together. Instead have someone independent of the prison and the judicial system (ex. a human rights worker) be assigned to simply look over the condition of prisoners to ensure they aren't being mistreated and if cases are pending them lawyers can come in once a week or so to talk about the case.

You can still monitor internet traffic, perhaps even more easily than letter, you can scan for keywords. Using facebook is a lot less difficult than conjugal visits

Yes, but what if the phone/computer they use to communicate with is using a phone/wireless internet plan purchased by one of their associates on the outside? How would we know who to monitor?

I think the best option here is to setup wireless signal jammers throughout the prisons to prevent this from happening.

This is an old view. The reason prisons exist are not to punish people but to correct them. They are even called correctional facilities in most civilized parts of the world. Janwar ki tarhan rakho ge toh janwar hi bahar niklay ga.

I don't know how much contact you've had with people who have been to or eventually wind up in prison but I have yet to meet one that was actually looking to reform especially when the punishment here for crimes like theft, etc... are so lenient.

Even if you wanted to try and "reform" these people then the prison can host classes and help inmates get their high school and/or college degrees, have poetry clubs, etc... why do they need to be on facebook or on the net? If they want to use a computer they can but only to write papers/reports.

People will commit crimes when the reward outweighs the risk in their mind. If you start cutting off hands for theft, lashing for rape, etc... you will see the crime rate drastically fall in Pakistan. Look at Iran's and Saudi Arabia's crime rates in comparison to our own or the "civilized world" as you put it.