Jamshedpur: Crime bosses who have been running gangland empires from their cell will no longer have a free run after Ghaghidih Central Jail turns into a high-security prison in a couple of months.

With 156 new state-of-the-art surveillance cameras to be installed across the jail in addition to the existing 24, it would be impossible for the offenders to pursue criminal activity while inside.

These hi-tech gadgets, 68 of which are revolving, will keep an eye on every movement of the inmates.

Jail superintendent Satyendra Kumar Chaudhury said the new cameras were being installed by the Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology (JAP-IT).

"Installations began from Wednesday and would be completed by April-end. The cameras are being put up at the administrative building, jail gates and in the wards," Chaudhury said.

He added that a room would be set up for round-the-clock monitoring of the footage.

"Monitoring would be done by the prison staff. Once the cameras are installed, the prison would be the most secured where the activities of each inmate would be tracked," Chaudhury said.

Two persons were killed in a gang war inside the prison in March 2009. While one of the undertrial prisoners was shot dead, the other one belonging to the rival gang was lynched.

The jail, with a capacity to accommodate 1,447 inmates, is currently equipped with 2G jammers which are grossly inadequate to block mobile signals as most of the gadgets are now 3G or 4G.

In July last year, the jail authorities recovered 33 cellphones and 15 mobile chargers during a raid.

A senior official said the security of a prison depends largely on the surveillance cameras.

"While 2G jammers makes no sense in this age of 3G and 4G mobiles, surveillance cameras are the only tool to check unlawful activities inside the prison," the official added.