Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Monday, November 2, reviewed the security situation in the state's prisons amid successive security lapses and ordered the constitution of a High-Level Committee to conduct a detailed enquiry into the lapses that led to the recent incidents of prisoners escaping, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

The committee will be headed by J.K. Tripathy, IPS (Retd), former Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu, as Chairman. Its members are K. Shankar, IPS, Additional Director General of Police and Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, and S. Rajendran (Retd), former Deputy Inspector General of Prisons.

According to the statement, the committee will examine the existing security architecture, Standard Operating Procedures, technology gaps and manpower deployment in the state's prisons, and recommend comprehensive measures to strengthen security and prevent such occurrences in future, based on best practices followed elsewhere in the country and abroad.

The order follows a series of escape incidents that have put the prison administration under scrutiny, including two escapes at Chennai's Puzhal prison and a breakout of 17 prisoners in Theni district — incidents Awaaz Punjab reported earlier. The new panel is the government's first system-wide response naming a dedicated enquiry into how those lapses happened.

Source: DevDiscourse

The announcement was made during the Chief Minister's visit to Pudukkottai on Monday, where he also inaugurated 44 completed works costing ₹68.31 crore, laid foundation stones for new works and distributed welfare assistance, according to reports of the visit.

The committee will submit its report with recommendations to the government at the earliest, the statement added. No deadline for the report was announced.