Inspector-general (IG), prisons, Suman Gupta today paid a surprise visit to Chas jail and dissatisfied with the arrangements there summoned officials concerned to a meeting at Bokaro deputy commissioner (DC) Manoj Kumar's office and issued instructions to plug loopholes.

Gupta spent two hours at the jail from 10am, taking stock of the security set-up, inspecting the prisoners' wards and finding several objectionable items that she declined to divulge.

"I did detect several lacunae in the way the jail is functioning. I also found several items that should not be present in the prisoners' ward and have asked the jail authorities to remove them," Gupta told The Telegraph soon after the high-level meeting that was attended by superintendent of police A. Vijayalaxmi, jailer Srikant and jail superintendent Rajesh Barla among others.

The first IPS officer to become jail IG - as this post was earlier reserved for IAS - said that she had asked the authorities to make foolproof arrangements while ferrying prisoners from jail to court and back by deploying more security personnel along the routes.

She also issued instructions to update the videoconferencing system at the jail.

"Another big problem is the steady stream of visitors coming to meet the prisoners. Many of these visitors smuggle in phones, weapons, food and other items, thus promoting illegal activities behind bars. To end this practice, we have installed a phone booth on the jail premises that will become functional from tomorrow (Friday)," she added.

The role of jail officials will be also monitored.

The IG instructed that every month, the jail superintendent would have to convene a meeting with other officials and submit a report to her, which would be kept confidential for security reasons.

Later, jailer Srikant said that they would carry out the IG's orders. "We will leave no stone unturned for strengthening the jail's security."