In a blow to online inmate surveillance across Jharkhand, Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology (JAPIT) has decided to end its partnership with the department of prisons, citing lack of adequate support. 

According to a report by Calcutta's Telegraph, a written message has been sent by JAPIT to the office of IG (prisons) to take charge of operating and maintaining closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in jails.

Installing CCTV cameras in jails was part of the Integrated Prison Management System (IPMS) launched in 2006. Under the guidance of JAPIT, the electronic eye debuted at Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar in 2008 and was, thereafter, extended to the central jail in Hazaribagh and divisional jails in Garhwa, Khunti and Koderma.

The IT agency was gradually supposed to cover the remaining 21 jails in the state, but now the project seems to have hit a dead end, which may affect overall prison security given the chronic problem of manpower crunch in Jharkhand. The state has five central jails with nearly 10,000 inmates, including 300 Naxalites.