By IANS
Lucknow : In a bid to improve the poor administration of jails across Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday said the prisons would be managed by Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, so far headed by officers belonging to Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
"The decision was taken in the larger interest of improving the administration of jails in the state," Mayawati told a press conference here.
Besides inspector general of prisons, so far held by IAS officers, and deputy inspectors general (DIGs), belonging to the provincial jails service, the government has decided to create two more posts to be held by IPS officers.
Significantly, the government's decision follows a virtual mutiny that took place in Sultanpur district jail Tuesday, leaving one jail warden dead and another person injured. Inmates resorted to violence and beat up the new jail superintendent for carrying out a search that revealed use of cell phones and other prohibited material in the prison cells.
Expressing concern over the deterioration in the security of prisons, Mayawati said: "Under no circumstances I will allow the jails to be used as haven for criminals and crooks."
"Jails are meant to house outlaws, who have to remain within specified limits," the chief minister said, adding, "and wherever jail employees were found to be maintaining an underhand nexus with the inmates, they woo would have to face the music."
Irregularities of various kinds in jails were brought to Mayawati's notice after she sought a report on their functioning.