Patna: The Bihar Government has decided to convert the Bhagalpur Central Jail into a 'high security' prison where only hardened criminals will be kept following strictures from the Patna High Court over jailbirds running their activities from behind bars.

The prison, first of its kind in the State, would become operational after the Patna High Court approved the proposal, Inspector General (Prisons) Deepak Kumar Singh told sources in Patna today (Dec 3, 2004).

Singh said the decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Secretary K A H Subramanian yesterday (Dec 2, 2004), which was attended among others by Home Secretary Girish Shanker.

Since the High Court has issued several orders to control jailbirds running their nefarious activities from behind bars, the consent of the court has become necessary, Singh said.

The jail department proposal provides for handing over the outer security to central para-military forces, while jawans of Bihar Military Police and jail personnel will manage internal security.

The outer security would be handed over to central para-military forces once the Centre cleared the proposal, Singh said, adding close-circuit TV's and mobile phone jammers would also be installed at the special jail.