Khudiram Bose Central Jail. Telegraph picture

Functioning of all prisons — starting from administrative to maintaining records of inmates — would be computerised by the end of this year.

“Besides, visitors coming to prisons to meet their relatives will have to go through a thorough check and their records will be maintained. The decisions were taken today (Wednesday) at a review meeting attended by superintendents of jails,” inspector-general (prisons) Anand Kishore told The Telegraph.

“The manual functioning in the jails causes a lot of problems. A software is being developed for the computerisation process and it will be ready in three months. The software will be launched in Beur Central Jail as a pilot project. It will be implemented in 38 central and district jails of the state in the first phase. The next phase will see the introduction of the software in all 16 sub-jails,” he added.

The officer said records of visitors would be maintained from now. “Many visitors come to jails and, at present, there is no system to keep their records. Once the software is developed, visitors will have to get their photographs clicked and finger prints scanned. The photo identifications would be kept with the jail administration,” he added.

On the other hand, security in and around Khudiram Bose Central Jail in Muzaffarpur has been tightened in the wake of repeated threats from Maoists to attack the prison where many Naxalites are incarcerated.

Jail superintendent Vishwanath Prasad on Wednesday ordered stepped-up police surveillance both within and outside the prison after the banned CPI(Maoist) issued three back-to-back letters threatening subversive activities in the central jail.

The Maoists also threatened the superintendent of the divisional jail in Sitamarhi, Mahesh Prasad Singh, and jailer Anil Mishra with “dire consequences” if they did not provide better facilities to the rebels lodged in the jail. The rebels demanded that their peers serving terms be allowed to meet visitors.

The Maoists, in the three letters, alleged that the human rights of their comrades were violated in the central jail and the prison in Sitamarhi. They added that the Maoists languishing in the jails were treated in “inhuman ways”. The rebels accused the jail superintendent of Sitamarhi and the jailer of treating Saini, a woman Maoist, in an inhuman way.