According to prison authorities, nearly 300 pictures, most of them of various political leaders, were removed from various cells in Kannur central prison.
The pictures ranged from those of Latin American revolutionary icon Che Guevera to living and dead CPI-M leaders. There were also some photographs of Congress leaders.
The Hindu and Christian religious pictures removed from the cells would be shifted to places of worship inside the prison campus, prison sources said.
The walls of some cells were found decorated with images of Malayalam superstars and actresses.
The decision to remove pictures from prisons was issued by ADGP (Prison) recently following reports that some of the political prisoners lodged in Kannur central jail had turned their confinement into "party cells."
State Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan had visited the Kannur Central Prison last month in the wake of allegations that the jail had become a hot bed of party politics and the wardens often found themselves helpless to maintain the rules strictly.