339. Preparations and procedure for dealing with cases of escape and disturbance.
- The precautions to be taken and the procedure to be adopted to guard against and deal with cases of escape and disturbance in jails, are as follows :-(a)The main gate sentry of every jail shall be provided with a bell, gong or drum with which to raise the alarm, he shall also be provided with means for raising an alarm. When prisoners are working in large numbers either inside or outside the jail, at a point so distant that a warder's whistle sounded at such place, cannot be heard by either the main gate sentry or second sentry, a gong or other preconcerted means of conveying information rapidly of any untoward occurrence shall be provided. Immediately a prisoner is found to be missing or in the event of any attempt to break jail or on any other disturbance taking place or even appearing imminent, an alarm parade shall be called and the Deputy Superintendent Jail shall despatch a messenger to convey brief information of what has happened to the Superintendent.(b)The Officer who first notices the incident, whatever it may be, shall blow his whistle continuously, and all warders on hearing it shall repeat the whistle till the continuous sounding of the alarm gong or bell at the jail gate shows that the information has reached there. A sentry on hearing a whistle or a bell or gong sounding the alarm in any part of the jail or its neighbourhood, shall repeat the alarm till the whole establishment is thoroughly aroused. The whistle or gong used for sounding an alarm should be of a different tone to that used for ordinary parades, if there be a bugler on the establishment, his services should be availed of to sound the alarm on his bugle. The Head Warder or warder on duty at the place where the alarm originated, shall despatch a junior warder or a trustworthy convict-officer with all haste to the jail gate, to convey such information as is known regarding the character of the occurrence that has or is about to take place, so that the Deputy Superintendent or other officer incharge may be in a position to direct operations accordingly; for instance in the case of an escape, the prisoner's name, where he was last seen, the direction he has probably taken and the part of the jail or jail precincts he has disappeared from will all be valuable pieces of information in leading to his recapture. In a case of a disturbance, the locality in which it occurred and the approximate number of prisoners engaged in it, will enable the officer in command to dispose of his forces in the most effective manner for its suppression.(c)Promptitude in starting an alarm is a most urgent and important duty, when a prisoner is discovered to be missing, or a disturbance has broken out or is on the point of breaking out, no attempt at a search or at suppression, as the case may be, shall be made, till measures are first taken to give the alarm; the fact that the missing man was found or the disturbance put down without the necessity of doing so shall not be accepted as palliating, in any way, neglect of this order.(d)On hearing the sound of the alarm, the warders in charge of gangs outside the jail shall collect their prisoners and march them to a pre-arranged place where a sufficiency of belchains shall be disposed during working hours. The prisoners shall sit in single file and the chain having been passed through their ankle rings shall be secured by locking. The lock may remain at all times on one end of the chain, but the key, whether a parade is in progress or not, shall remain with the senior warder in charge of the gang.Note. - As an alarm parade may be ordered at any time and it is of importance that prisoners should not know whether any given parade is merely for practice or not, the same attention to details should be given on all occasions. In the case of an attempt on the part of a body of prisoners to break out of the main gate, it would be unwise to open the gates or wickets for the purpose of returning extramural gangs into the jail until the enclosure in the vicinity of the inner gate is first cleared of prisoners for this reason gangs at work outside should, on the occurrence of an alarm, be chained up where the work is in progress.(e)At times of alarm, all prisoners inside the jail shall be locked into the nearest or most convenient ward, workshop or other building and warders on duty will keep a watch on the places of confinement of prisoners.(f)On the sound of the alarm, jail official (except warders in charge of gangs), shall proceed immediately, no matter where or how engaged or whether in proper uniform or not, to the jail armoury and arm himself with his rifle and 10 rounds of buckshot ammunition. He shall then fall into line and place himself under the orders of the Deputy Superintendent or other senior officer present. The procedure to be followed by the officer in charge must necessarily depend on the character of the occurrence with which he has to deal. In all cases, however, a sentry should be posted on the roof of the main gate or other position where he can command a view of the interior of the jail, and two small pickets, each in charge of a Head-Warder or Senior-Warder, should be despatched to take up positions near the rear angles of the jail, and instructed to prevent any attempt on the part of prisoners to scale the walls in that direction. A few men should be set aside as a reserve to render assistance at any point where their services may be specially required and with instructions to proceed to the spot from which the sound of a rifle shot comes : (warders in need of assistance shall fire a shot in the air to intimate the fact). When prisoners are chained up outside the jail, it will be also necessary to post a small picket over them. The disposal of the remaining men will depend on circumstances.(g)If it be a case of escape or disturbance outside the jail, it shall be the duty of the officer incharge to despatch his spare men in search of the missing prisoner or to take measures to quell the disturbance as the case may be, using his powers with discretion and effecting his object with as little display of force as is under the circumstances, necessary.(h)Should it be a case of riot or disturbance inside the jail, the officer in charge will have to lead his men in to put it down. Before taking such a step, however, he shall first satisfy himself by enquiry from the sentry on the roof of the gateway that there are no prisoners in the enclosure in the vicinity of the gate. Should there be, the gate should not be opened till the crowd is dispersed, and this can be effectually done from the gateway roof. He shall then lead his men in double file or in "threes" between the gates. When the outer gate has been bolted and, locked, the inner one may be opened and the men marched in double time to the scene of the disturbance, to act as the officer in command may dictate.(i)Whether an alarm is real or false all the details, from the preliminary whistle of the warder to the conclusion of the search for the missing prisoners or the suppression of the disturbance, as the case may be, should be carried out. To accustom warders to the different circumstances with which they may be called upon to deal and test their preparedness to turn out at short notice, an alarm parade shall be held twice a month at any hour of the day or night without previous warning and started from one of the places where prisoners are usually assembled.(j)In the case of an escape or disturbance at night, or after all the gangs are inside the jail, the same method of starting an alarm shall be followed, namely, the blowing of a whistle and the conveyance of the necessary information to the jail gate, by the patrolling officer if after lock up, or by some junior official it before that time. A sentry shall be posted over the main gate and the necessary pickets sent to the rear of the jail to frustrate any attempt at an escape, as is done in alarm parades by day. If it be reported that a prisoner has escaped and it appears probable that he is still lurking within the jail, warders with lighted torches shall be posted at intervals inside the enclosure walls and the remaining warders divided into two parties each with lighted torches, one to search inside and the other outside the jail.Note. - Torches ready for use and a sufficiency of oil should be kept in a box at the main gate and 'Chakkar'.(k)It is the duty of the gate sentry at times of alarm to defend the'gate and to protect any officer of the prison or other person to whom a prisoner may be actually using violence.(l)Absolute silence should be preserved at alarm parades and all the details carried out in an orderly and systematic manner. Senior Assistant Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Head-warders and Senior warders who have to take charge of detached parties of men, should be informed before hand of the duties required of them so that they may know exactly what to do and where to go when the alarm sounds, without waiting for instructions from the officer in charge.(m)In case of a disturbance, the officer incharge should keep his men together in line and not allow them to approach the body of prisoners nearer than thirty yards, from which distance he is in the best position to deal with the rioters. A few warders should in all cases be armed with batons and supplied with handcuffs to arrest and secure any ring-leaders or escaping prisoners.Note. - Police tear gas squads may be requisitioned by the jail in the case of emergency whenever considered necessary.(n)The alarm shall be concluded by blowing "the retire" on a bugle or sounding the alarm gong as a signal for all officers who took part in the parade to return to the jail gate, fall into line and be dismissed by the Deputy Superintendent.(o)The Deputy Superintendent shall note in his journal the date and hour at which the parade was held, the time taken by the warders to fall in and arm themselves, the names of any subordinates who were late or absent, and any defects that were noticed.Note. - A copy of such report should be submitted to the Inspector- General by the Superintendent Jail giving details of the action proposed to be taken against defaulters, if any, immediately after holding the alarm parade.
