Inmates of the Central Prison, Cherlapalli, will soon be able to make calls to their families from within the four walls of the prison. Not stealthily from their mobile phones smuggled inside, but by using an official telephone facility.
The prisons department had proposed long back to introduce a phone facility for prisoners but the state government had reservations on granting the required sanction. It had raised questions pertaining to security and cost issues involved. The file had literally gathered dust as the government kept its sanction pending. However, with all issues having been resolved, it is a matter of time before the prison inmates get access to a telephone facility.
“The cabins are being created and the equipment is expected to be installed in the next few days,” jail superintendent K L Srinivasa Rao told TOI.
However, all the calls of the prisoners, it is learnt, will be monitored. According to prisons department authorities, the inmates will be required to give one or two telephone numbers of their family members and they will be allowed to make calls only to these numbers. The inmates will be allowed to make calls twice a week and eight times a month and charged Rs 5 per call. Earlier, it was thought that prisoners would be charged Rs 8 by the private mobile company for one-minute call. Now the call charge has been reduced to Rs 5. Each call will be for a duration of five minutes.
“If there is a scope to reduce the call rates further, we will consider it. That will depend on the number of prisoners using the facility. It should be possible to reduce the rates if more prisoners use it,” C N Gopinath Reddy, director-general, prisons department said.
The ‘mulaqat’ facility is available for the relatives to meet the prisoners. But it has been observed by authorities that not every prisoner gets visitors regularly because their family members cannot afford the fares from their native places to city to meet the inmates.
–Courtesy:TOI