http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101020/jsp/jharkhand/story_13077005.jsp

3G jammers to plug phone freeway in prisons
A.S.R.P. MUKESH

Ranchi, Oct. 19: Jharkhand is gearing up to jam every wrong signal by year-end.
All central and district jails in the state will be equipped with 3G-enabled jammers to block — and entirely — cellphone frequencies inside prison premises.

Currently, only Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi and Ghagidih divisional jail near Jamshedpur have ordinary jammers, which are unable to disrupt signals completely.

The 3G drive assumes significance at a time when raids at Chas and Tenughat jails in Bokaro have yielded more than half a dozen mobile phone handsets and SIM cards. Extortion kingpins were found to run rackets from behind bars while cellphone service providers did not bother to verify documents, a mandatory step under the IT Act.

According to IG (prisons) Vijay Kumar Singh, some 23 jammers will be installed across the state under the supervision of a technical team from Hyderabad-based Electronic Corporation of India (ECI). Two jammers were installed in Hazaribagh and Koderma jails last week and officials said Ranchi jail, which already has four jammers, will get two more by this month.

Performance of a jammer depends on network coverage capacity of a telecom service provider. Till last year, jammers could block only three frequencies — 800MHz, 900MHz and 1,800MHz. All telecom operators functioned on one of the three frequencies. However, 3G works on a frequency of 2,150MHz.

“A jammer programmed on this frequency will be able to disrupt calls even from 3G phones and cover a radius upto a kilometre,” said Pune-based Sanjay Suryawanshi, who designs jammers for military purposes.

Singh said the decision for this technical upgrade was taken two months ago at a meeting with home ministry officials in Delhi.

“An ECI team, along with German experts, is touring jails. It has successfully installed two jammers that are functioning well. Work to set up towers in all central and district jails is nearly complete, too,” he added.

Sources said main problems with existing jammers were that they get heated very soon and are unable to cope with changing weather conditions. The new set of jammers will also take care of these challenges.

“Technology is improving and, everyday, we see new telecom service providers making forays. As a result, it is difficult to track all mobile networks. So, we approached the ECI for its assistance. The jammers are programmed in such a way that they can jam every cellphone signal inside jails,” the IG said.

Special sheds would be erected and exhaust fans and coolers installed to prevent overheating of the gadgets.