Bengaluru jail row: Hitendra Committee on prison security the fifth in over a decade

In just over a decade, the Karnataka government has formed five committees to recommend measures to tighten security at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison — four under the Congress regime and one under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime. 

The latest was formed on Monday (November 10, 2025) led by R. Hitendra, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Karnataka. Just like the previous four times, this committee was also formed in response to a recent expose of inmates at the prison having access to television, mobile phones and alcohol, even as most of the recommendations made by the previous four committees are gathering dust.

“The State government has been indulging in a knee-jerk reaction every time there is an expose of inmates accessing some contraband. Most of these committees have only bought time and created an impression that action was being taken, without addressing basic issues in the prison like overcrowding, large vacancies, removing subjectivity from processes in the prison, which most of these reports have flagged,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be named. 

“Fence eating crop” 

“The problem at the prison is mostly a case of collusion of officers — fence eating the crop. Suspensions of lower rank officers won’t help. In bad cases, officers need to be sternly dealt with, including dismissals from service, to instill discipline in the rest. We need to send prison staff for regular in-service training, which is a rarity now,” a senior officer said. 

However, he said that the persistent problems of overcrowding of Parappana Agrahara Central Prison and large scale vacancies — nearly 40% — which are the fundamental issues, remain unaddressed. Splitting the jail and building a new jail was an absolute necessity, another officer said. 

The jammers need to be overhauled to ensure there is no network inside the prison, reports have repeatedly said.

“Remove subjectivity”

One of the major recommendations of all the four committees has been to work towards removing subjectivity from various processes in the prison. 

For instance, two reports have recommended that the number of CCTV cameras in the prison should not only be increased, but the command centre analysing this live feed must be manned by a third party agency and not the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services. In fact, one report has suggested that the feed from the prison’s command centre be linked to Bengaluru City Police’s Command Centre for a live review.

Home Minister G. Parameshwara has on Monday ordered such a Command Centre to be set up in the prison over the next two weeks, but there is no clarity on who will monitor the live feed and raise alarms over violations. 

Use of bodycams

One of the committee reports has recommended that all prison personnel - from a sentry to the jail superintendent - must mandatorily be made to wear bodycams, but it has not been implemented yet. Any supply of food or other material coming from outside should be thoroughly checked, videographed and then only sent in, reports have recommended. This is also not being followed thoroughly, sources said. This is often the channel for contraband to enter the prison, sources said. 

At least two committee reports have recommended that separation of inmates is a must. *Optional for print: The separation of women, undertrials and convicts is not enough. Petty offenders need to be separated from those in jail for serious offences, addicts from non-addicts to drugs, terror suspects and foreign nationals should also be kept separate, reports have recommended. Ends*

Allocation of barracks

Moreover, subjectivity needs to be removed in even allocation of barracks. A round robin system should be followed to allocate barracks and every month the system needs to be overhauled again, one of the reports recommends. Any exceptions to be made to the round robin system have to be recorded in writing with adequate reasoning by the superintendent, the report says. 

One of the reports says that medical officers should not be posted at the prison for over a year. “When we do not allow people to settle down, systems settle in. This should be the guiding principle,” a senior official said. 

Most of the illegal activities happen during night time and no senior prison staff are usually present. A recent report has recommended that a superintendent rank officer should be on duty in the prison during night time so that there is accountability.