On Tuesday evening, police, using three high-definition drones, apprehended eight more in a forest area. Wednesday’s two arrests brought the total to 15. (Express photo enhanced by AI)Police recaptured two more prisoners who escaped from Tamil Nadu’s Theni district jail late Monday night, taking the number of those back in custody to 15 on Wednesday. Two undertrials remain at large.The state’s prisons department, meanwhile, moved to arm watchtower personnel with self-loading rifles and authorised them to open fire when attacked or to prevent a jailbreak.The latest arrests, of Ponmuthu Selvam and Regin, came as search teams continued combing the hills and forest areas around Theni and along the Kerala border.The escape began late on Monday, when one prisoner appeared to suffer an epileptic fit inside a cell. When a guard entered to respond to the apparent medical emergency, the inmates allegedly attacked him. The guard suffered a head injury, and 17 prisoners fled through the main entrance.The armed deployment marks the most visible response to a jailbreak that exposed weaknesses in how prisoners were housed, monitored and guarded.Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Sandeep Rai Rathore, said personnel manning watchtowers were authorised to open fire when under attack or when a jailbreak occurred. He also said the arming of personnel would depend on security requirements and the prevailing situation.Must Read | Now streaming in Tamil Nadu: Stalin’s Breaking Bad jab, TVK’s Money Heist counterSelf-loading rifles were issued from the department’s armoury on Tuesday. Armed watchtower duty began at central prisons that day and was extended to district jails on Wednesday. The measures cover nine central prisons, five special prisons for women and 13 district jails.Story continues below this adThe department has also cancelled personnel’s leave, ordered them to return to duty and instructed staff to carry batons. A standard operating procedure has been issued to prevent escapes.Inside the prisons, officials are examining a less conspicuous security problem: who shares a cell with whom.Rathore said five prisoners implicated in a crime registered at Vikramangalam police station in Madurai district had been lodged in the same ward at Theni. They played a key role in planning the escape, he said. He said priority would be given to separating first-time offenders from hardened criminals and ensuring that members of the same gang were not housed together.Accounts emerging from the preliminary inquiry point to overcrowding in the ward and failures in supervision. Three guards were injured, one seriously. Nine prison personnel have been suspended.Story continues below this adThe search, supervised by Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Vijayendra Bidari, involved 17 teams, with the superintendents of police of Theni and Dindigul overseeing operations. Five escapees were caught in the initial searches. On Tuesday evening, police, using three high-definition drones, apprehended eight more in a forest area. Wednesday’s two arrests brought the total to 15.Bidari said investigators were questioning the recaptured prisoners and that the two district police chiefs were jointly pursuing the inquiry. Officers also took some prisoners back to the hills and recorded the places where they had sheltered.Rathore said preliminary inquiries suggested that the two remaining fugitives had escaped on a motorcycle and added that they would be caught within a day or two.A security audit of central prisons and district jails is nearing completion. Rathore said its findings, along with the Theni inquiry, would be examined for gaps, lapses and complacency. A technical team is also developing an artificial intelligence-powered dashboard bringing together inmate records, health details, staff deployment and access to live surveillance footage.Story continues below this adTamil Nadu’s prison population, around 23,600, is below its overall authorised capacity of 24,148. But that statewide figure conceals something else – several central and district prisons operate above capacity.Arun Janardhanan is an experienced and authoritative Tamil Nadu correspondent for The Indian Express... Read More Tags:Tamil Nadu