Jaipur, 19 November: Security lapses at Jaipur Central Jail have taken a worrying turn with the discovery of a dongle inside the facility. The device was found in the electrical booth’s store-room on Monday, raising serious questions about how it bypassed existing safeguards.
Prison guard Rajesh Singh Tanwar filed a report at the Lalkothi Police Station after noticing the device, which is typically used to connect to the internet. The incident has triggered an internal investigation involving both the police and jail administration to determine how the dongle entered the prison premises and who was using it.
This isn’t the first sign of security breakdown. Between August and November of this year, a total of 59 mobile phones were recovered from the jail: 3 in August, 31 in September, 17 in October and 8 in November so far.
The irony is that the jail had previously spent lacs of rupees installing mobile-network jammers to prevent exactly these kinds of incidents yet the jammers are reportedly non-functional or ignored, leaving inmates free to exploit digital vulnerabilities.
Also contributing to the risk: the southern side of the jail borders densely populated residential areas, with rooftops overlooking parts of the prison compound. Reports indicate attempts to throw suspicious packets over the walls have emerged, further exposing how porous the perimeter has become.
This latest episode highlights a concerning trend of security protocols failing in a facility meant to be heavily monitored. The administration now faces pressure to plug the gaps and ensure that items such as dongles and mobile phones cannot be smuggled in and used by inmates to compromise prison safety.