Personal information, including retinal and finger print scans, of the prisoners is currently being collected and a camp has been set up at the jail premises for the purpose.
The cards will help investigating authorities to track down repeated offenders, who have their cases pending and are lodged in Kanpur jail, faster by using the information fed in the database, Jail Superintendent P D Saloniya said.
The biometric information will also help police nationwide in tracking history-sheeters, he added.