Staff entry points prove weak link as mobile phones thrive behind bars in Karnataka | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Mobile phones — thriving behind bars despite being banned inside prisons — are not slipping through only via dramatic throws over compound walls or hidden drops. According to Karnataka’s DGP (prisons and correctional services) Alok Kumar, the biggest breach is far more mundane and alarming: the main gate.Following a series of special drives conducted across district and central prisons recently, officials recovered more than 100 mobile phones, chargers, five knives, and about 700 grams of ganja. While contraband seizures were reported from multiple prisons, Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara remains at the centre of concern, given its long history of mobile phone misuse linked to extortion, organised crime, and gang operations.
“The smuggling of phones happens mainly through the main gate,” Kumar told TOI. “Unlike ganja packets, which in some prisons like Belagavi and Ballari are thrown into the compound from outside, mobile phones cannot be smuggled that way. Such attempts would destroy the device. Phones are coming in through people who walk in.” In fact, one of the first diktats issued to the jail staff by Kumar after he took over as the prisons’ chief was to ensure that inmates don’t get access to mobile devices. According to Kumar, lax frisking, especially of prison staff, is the weakest link. “Strict frisking at the main gates is one of the best solutions available to us. Frisking should be done on everyone, including prison staff such as warders. There should be no exceptions,” he said. Frisking at the prison entry points is carried out by Karnataka Industrial Security Force (KISF) personnel. The directive comes in the wake of the Oct 2025 incident where a prison warder was caught at the main gate of Bengaluru Central Prison while trying to smuggle in smartphones. The warder had dismantled the phones and concealed the parts in his inner garments. “I will not dig up the past in these incidents. I have given a deadline of Dec 31 to clean up the prison and bring all such illegal activities to an end. If we find that such banned materials continue to be smuggled into prisons, the officials concerned will be held responsible and will face action,” Kumar added.
