Employees of a private finance company in Kannur, just before going out for work on Friday morning. Vinoj Kumar quickly examined WhatsApp messages on his mobile phone. Govindachami ran away from Kannur Central Jail, reading a message.
The image stopped Vinoj in its track. Like many other people in Kerala, he recalled the matter and there was anger that it was triggered.
Making a mental note of the message, he quickly left for work.
A few moments later, walking along the Pamban Madhavan Road near Talp, they slowed down their vehicle to give way in a fast bus. Just then, a man went towards him, partially blocked the road. Looked again about the man.
“He was a lean partner, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, and one of his hands was pushed under a bundle of cloth that he was carrying on his head,” Vinoj recalls.
He sported a beard, unlike the image of a prisoner aired on social media. Nevertheless, something was in his mind. He shared his doubts about the man’s identity with an autorickshaw driver with whom he met on the road.
“I told him that the man looked like Govindachami. The man used to move forward fast because we used to contact him,” Winoj remembered.
As the AutorickShaw driver tried to interact with the man, he did not respond. When his name was called out, he took him to his heel. As he ran away from the scene, his dissected hand was detected, which confirmed his suspicion. This life was guilty Govindachami.
Vinoj did not waste any time to alert the police.
Since the police was searching for the area for the convict, a government employee M. Annic Rrishnan reached his office in Talap for day work.
“One of my colleagues wore me about the news that the jailbird was last seen in the Talap area. There are some empty plots next to our office building, which I felt, can work as hidden places for criminals,” called Annikishan.
Before reaching the area of the police team, he took out to inspect the plots. Just to ensure that they thrown a casual look in a well located in their office premises. For his shock, he noticed that Govindachami was trying to stay in water to escape from the police.
Ignoring the dangers of the culprit, Annikrishnan raised the alarm. In a short time, the police reached the area and pulled the convict out of the well, thus survived the high-voltage gel which kept the state in the neck of tension for hours.
Although the convict jumped into jail in the early hours of the day, his absence was observed a few hours later during the morning roll call. The discovery of a rope hanging from the outer wall of the gel, which he used to escape, confirmed the suspicion.
P. Nidhinaraj, District Police Chief (Kannur City), described the escape as a “well planned operation”. Investigations revealed that the robber had collected clothes of remand prisoners to make rope, used water drums left on the walls. He modified his dietary practices to lose weight and squeeze themselves through narrow cell door rods. Block 10 reserved for high -risk prisoners is suspected of using a hacasow blade to cut through iron bars of your cell.
Police believe that he slipped from his cell around 1 pm and extended three walls using rope and water drums. After spending about three hours in the prison complex, it is believed that they had cleaned the wall of the external compound by 4.30 pm, a faulty electric fence made their migration an easy case, suspected police officers.
After escaping from Kannur Central Jail, police arrested Govindachami convicted in the rape and murder of a 23 -year -old woman in 2011. , Photo Credit: SK Mohan
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior jail officer said that the jail staff had ignored several “tail-tail signs”, including the changing behavior and attendance of the prisoner, which if seen, is stopped.
For one, Govindchami began to grow beard, which should have raised doubts in the minds of hardworking officers. In addition, their harsh dietary changes and noticeable weight loss also surprisingly no one was noticed, they say.
The dazzle in the jail and the monitoring system did not stop there. The empty drums in the gel complex and easily accessible loose materials such as fabrics, which were used by the guilty to scale the wall, were neither cleaned nor marked nor marked nor despite routine patrolling. They say that such “equipment” may be looking for an opportunity to escape by prisoners, they say.
Ashokan Arippa, a former Superintendent of Kannur Central Jail, convicted it for security and convicted the insult to the duties of the jail authorities.
“A better vigilance and monitoring of prisoners would have postponed the incident. Most monitoring equipment installed in jail, including CCTV cameras, either non-functional or was not suppressed in service, helped the convict slip out of jail,” he says.
But the escape of Govindchami, supervisors say, only a symptom of intensive institutional illness. This has highlighted the weaknesses of the gel system across the state, they say.
Electric fencing in the Kannur Central Jail is non-functional for almost three years, an extension by Govindchami and others. Currently only Viur Central Jails and adjacent high security jail have electrical fencing. Many jails in Kerala, some built during British rule, have aging remains in strict needs of modernization, describing a senior scope of the jail department.
Former Director General of Jails and Reform Services, TP Senkumar feels that most corrective facilities are called jails. “Inmates are placed in small, poorly ventilated cells, often without fans. It is a conflict to survive for summer months.”
The congestion has only spoiled the situation.
The average occupancy rate in Kerala jails is about 135%, which is more than the national average of 131%. Official figures show that 10,605 prisoners have been included in 57 jails designed to keep only 7,828. The situation is severe among the major features, including Central Jails in Pujappura, Vicer and Kannur and District Jails in Ernakulam and Kottayam.
Block 10 in Kannur Central Jail, in which Govindachami is recorded, is for solitary imprisonment. However, the authorities have placed two prisoners each in the 6 feet x 6 feet cell.
The strength of employees of Kerala jails and corrective services has not increased proportional to the number of prisoners. The force has 2,289 personnel against the approved strength of 2,415. According to department officials, given the current number of prisoners, at least 3,600 employees will need to ensure effective round monitoring and proper administration of jails.
To plug the gap, jail authorities have rapidly replaced the workers hired on daily wages, a trend of former Director General of Jails and a trend of corrective services Alexander Jacob is full of risk.
“Contract workers are not bound by any service rules and are unsafe for external influence. It can open the door for corruption and resulting security,” he warns.
Compounding these issues is bureaucracy delay and insufficient money for the department. Important monitoring facilities like CCTV camera and electrical fence due to lack of annual maintenance contracts. Sources in the department say that despite repeated reminder, the facilities have not been commissioned.
“During the 13th Finance Commission, we secured Of 154 crores for this purpose. Since then no proposal has been submitted, which drought a complete funding in the next two Finance Commissions.”
In addition to poor infrastructure features, political intervention has also long harassed Kerala’s gel system, which are familiar with the gel system.
Senkumar alleged that some jails, especially Kannur, are seen as a stronghold of some political parties. “The Kannur Central Jail is effectively under the control of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has been abandoned by the Democratic Front. Only politically aligned officials are appointed there. The jail advisory committees, often made of influential politicians, have some serious criminal allegations, affecting the jail regime,” he said.
Ashokan Arippa Consent: “Political pressure reduces employees. Officers work for fear of results.”
However, a member of the Kannur Jail Advisory Committee P. Members of a State Committee of Jayarajan and CPI (M) reject the allegations as politically motivated.
“This is a promotion of anti-left forces and right-wing media. Let us not forget the ‘Ripper’ Jayanandan’s escape of a death prisoner from Pujappura Central Jail in 2013, when the Congress-led United Democratic Front Sarkar was in power,” he counters.
He also quickly states that advisory panels have no role in the daily cases of prison. “The role of the panel is limited to the convicts recommends premature release.”
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds home portfolio, has ordered a special inquiry under the leadership of former High Court Judge CN Ramachandran Nair and former state police chief Jacob Pannose.
Ramachandran Nair acknowledged the need for prison-specific reforms in the state. “Each gel has unique deficiencies and issues to address. While congestion remains a frequent issue, the condition has been extended by increasing number of crimes, especially drug related crimes.”
Director General of Jails and Correctional Services Balram Kumar Upadhyay says that there will be an inquiry soon to demand more jails and increase infrastructure facilities in the current people.
While the jailbreak has put the jail department in bad light, it has also served as a wake-up call for the state government to introduce corrective measures in the functioning of state jails and corrective services.
