The problem of illegal circulation of smartphones in prisons is becoming more and more serious, posing a huge security risk to prison management. Recently, the Punjab Prison Department in India found that some prisoners used the high-intensity signals of emergency calls (SOS) to bypass the high-tech signal jammers installed by the authorities, thereby illegally communicating with the outside world. According to the latest report from the prison department, prisoners repeatedly dialed the SOS emergency number and used its strong signal penetration to break through the phone signal jammer. Once a connection was successfully established, other ordinary calls could also be connected smoothly.
Challenges facing current signal jammer systems
- Technical defects of 5G signal shielding. The existing T-HCBS system does not technically cover the interference of 5G signals. The high-speed transmission and low-latency characteristics of 5G communication technology make it easier for its signals to bypass traditional jammer blockers in prisons. The Punjab Prisons Department report pointed out that this technical gap allows prisoners to use 5G signals to contact the outside world, especially by dialing SOS emergency numbers to bypass the jamming system.
- Coordination issues inside and outside the prison. In the pilot project, Punjab worked with telecom service providers to test the signal of the T-HCBS system in the prison. However, although the system performed well in some locations, the test results showed that the jamming effect varied in different areas. To ensure the widespread effectiveness of the system, the prison department needs to further optimize the equipment configuration and coordinate the cooperation between local governments and telecom service providers to ensure full coverage of signal shielding.
Improving signal blocker technology is urgent
To solve this problem as soon as possible, the Punjab Prisons Department has cooperated with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and telecom service providers, hoping to adjust the existing signal jammer system as soon as possible. In mid-November, Surinder Singh, the inspector general of Punjab Prisons, submitted a 214-page report to the High Court on behalf of the state government, detailing the current technical challenges and solutions. The report mentioned that the technical evaluation committee recommended the pilot installation of an updated version of the T-HCBS system in two prisons, Amritsar and Kapurthala, to evaluate its effectiveness in shielding prisoners' illegal communications.
With the assistance of telecom service providers, DoT conducted field tests in two central prisons, Kapurthala and Amritsar, in mid-August this year to test the performance of the T-HCBS system in a real environment. The test results will provide data support for future technical improvements.
In addition to technical challenges, the jammer devices installed in the prison have also caused dissatisfaction among residents near the Amritsar prison. Since the signal jammer devices not only block signals in the prison, but also affect the surrounding communities, the mobile phone signals of local residents are interfered with. In response, the prison department is adjusting the frequency and coverage of the signal blockers to reduce the impact on residents' daily communications. This move aims to balance the conflict between prison security and community life and ensure that signal shielding is limited to prisons.
Prison communication control will be further optimized in the future
In order to further improve the efficiency of prison management, Punjab is planning to introduce more intelligent technologies, such as signal monitoring systems and more efficient 5G signal jammers, to meet the increasingly severe communication management challenges. With the full deployment of 5G networks, the prison department will continue to adjust and upgrade equipment to ensure that prisoners cannot use advanced communication methods to evade supervision.
Through this technological innovation, Punjab not only hopes to solve the current problem of prisoners abusing mobile phones, but also hopes to set new standards for future prison management. The implementation of this series of measures will help improve the overall security of prisons and reduce the potential threats to society from illegal communications.
