KARACHI, Sept 26: When news broke of the recent D.I. Khan jailbreak in which a large number of militants were set free, there was reportedly loud cheering and raising of religious slogans in one part of the Karachi Central Jail – the barracks in which “high-profile” prisoners are housed.

In the wake of the D.I. Khan and Bannu jailbreaks in KP, the security of prisons elsewhere in the country is in the spotlight. Wednesday’s grenade attack on Karachi Central Jail, despite having no negative consequences, highlighted the vulnerabilities of this facility.

Built in 1899, it is the largest of the 21 prisons in Sindh. Of approximately 4,750 inmates, 210 are categorised as “high-profile”, a catch-all term for religious extremists as well as target killers. Hyderabad, Sukkur and Malir jails also house some militants, although they are only a fraction of the number held in Karachi Central Jail.

Some steps have recently been taken to enhance security here. A 20-foot-high wall is being constructed around the existing perimeter. Owners of buildings in the adjoining PIB colony are to be issued notices in the near future to pull down their second floors that overlook the jail premises. Elevated watchtowers have been increased, guards provided with walkie-talkies and hand-held metal detectors, and more closed circuit cameras installed.

There are measures in place to prevent contact between ordinary prisoners and the militants who are confined in separate barracks. Families of these prisoners can visit them only on Friday, when families of ‘ordinary inmates’ are not allowed. These meetings — colloquially termed “interview” — take place across a glass partition to prevent visitors from smuggling cell phones, SIMs, etc to inmates. This precaution now applies to visits by families of regular prisoners as well.

As the transfer of under-trial prisoners from jail to courts for hearing can be a risky process, the home department to preclude escape attempts issues notifications in the case of some of those charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act directing that their trials be held within the jail premises.

However, there needs to be far more extensive changes if the Central Jail is to be well secured.“When the prison was first built, it was meant to accommodate only 500 prisoners and that too when the city had a very small population,” says Deputy Superintendent Central Jail Nazeer Shah. “Today, with so many inmates, our biggest problem is the shortage of trained security staff.”

According to jail officials, there are 300 security personnel at the prison and only 60 of them — for over 4,700 inmates — are on ward duty.

Moreover, the presence of militants in the prison population places extraordinary demands on jail personnel who have received no special training for the purpose. “They are ill equipped, mentally and physically, to deal with such kind of prisoners,” says Sharfuddin Memon, adviser on home affairs to the Sindh government. “We need a dedicated, commando-trained force for security, something that is now being considered.”

Incarcerated militants inspire fear among prison staff. A case in point: the first day of the Eidul Fitr holidays this year fell on Friday, the day when high-profile prisoners’ families are allowed to visit them, but when jail officials decided to postpone the visits to the next working day, they were threatened with such dire consequences by the militants that they backtracked.

Even police personnel connected with terrorism investigations have reason to fear militants. Since last September, at least three policemen — two in Karachi and one in Hyderabad — have been killed at the hands of militants who also accepted responsibility for the murders.

Inside prison, the militants have to be housed keeping their affiliations — religious and political — in mind. Sunni and Shia religious extremists have to be confined separately, and also kept away from prisoners with whom they may have sectarian differences. Last year, Basharat Hussain Zaidi, a Malir Development Authority official who had been arrested in a corruption case, was fatally slashed multiple times with a razor-sharp steel object by Mohammed Ahmed, a Tehreek-i-Taliban militant in a suspected sectarian attack. Both had temporarily been kept together in one cell.

There are also systemic flaws that further compromise security. For instance, high-profile inmates despite being housed separately come into contact with regular prisoners at meals and during prayers. This can provide militants an opportunity to gain new recruits and widen their sphere of influence. A senior policeman says: “Jihadis are always polite, they quote from the Quran and do tableegh, and that can draw regular prisoners to them.”

Also, when these regular prisoners are taken to court for trial hearings, they sometimes use the opportunity to procure prohibited items from accomplices outside. They have been known to conceal narcotics (trade in which is a particular menace in the prison), SIMs, even cellphones inside their body cavities that, in the absence of X-ray scanners, can go undetected when they are being returned to jail. These SIMs and cell phones are particularly lethal if they pass them on — more likely, sell — to the high-profile inmates.

However, one of the weakest links in this system is the poorly paid jail staff itself. According to a jail official, “More often than not, it is the prison guards themselves who smuggle in SIMs and cellphones to the inmates. It’s hardly surprising when you consider that a new warden is recruited on a monthly salary of Rs13,000. Even after 20 years of service, a warden’s salary is no more than Rs26,000. How is a man supposed to raise a family on such an income?”

Access to SIMs and cellphones enables the latter to coordinate operations with accomplices outside. Sharfuddin Memon cites the example of Rustam, a member of the notorious gang of kidnappers led by Mashooq Brohi, who was found to be running his criminal enterprise for quite some time from inside the Central Jail. There are also many instances of eyewitnesses being eliminated in targeted killings through coordination with prisoners behind bars.

Three days after the attack on Justice Maqbool Baqar on June 26 this year, the Rangers carried out a search operation at the Central Jail because preliminary investigations suggested that the attack may have been planned from inside. A number of mobile phones, SIMs and even laptops were recovered from the inmates. Although officials say that jammers have been placed inside the prison, they concede there are areas where coverage is imperfect.

There are other procedural violations that compromise security. For instance, even those high-profile prisoners who are supposed to be tried inside the prison are at times taken to outside courts, a serious lapse that has resulted in a number of militants recently making good their escape.

The number of militants in the prison population has rendered the jail a highly sensitive location, which in turn has adversely impacted ordinary prisoners. An NGO-run centre on the jail premises teaching skills such as electronics, tailoring, etc has been closed to curtail access by outsiders.

To ease the over-crowding present in most of the province’s jails, new prisons are under construction in Thatta, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, and in Malir. The latter, which is nearing completion, is being constructed behind the existing District Jail Malir and will have a capacity for 1,000 prisoners.

During president Musharraf’s government, a high-security prison with 300 cells equipped with bugging devices, and a judicial complex for trials on the premises, was planned to be built at this spot. Surveys of the area were done, encroachment removed and preliminary plans for the structure drawn up by an architectural firm. However, for unexplained reasons, the project never got off the drawing board.

According to senior jail officials, not one but several high-security prisons are urgently required to house the most dangerous inmates. Where Karachi Central Jail is concerned, its location in the centre of the city is a major security concern. The congested lanes in its immediate vicinity are difficult to monitor and suit anyone who may be planning to spring out of prison those individuals who are best kept behind bars.