Prison inmates get phone facility

Rajahmundry: The inmates of Rajahmundry Central Prison were provided telephone facility to interact with their family members and share their feelings. The facility was inaugurated by Deputy Inspector General (Prisons), Coastal region, A Narasimha, and Superintendent of Central prison, K Newton, as a Christmas gift on Wednesday. A private company has installed a chamber with four telephones in the Rajahmundry Central Prison with Rs 14 lakh.

Mr Narasimha said the prisoners could talk with their family members twice a week from this chamber. Two telephone numbers selected by inmates would be used and they could utilise the telephone on bio-metric system. Inmates could use the telephone based on thumb impression. Two numbers would be displayed on the screen soon after the inmate gives the thumb impression.

The inmate could choose the number to call and then talk with the family members, twice a week. He said Rs 20 would have to be paid for a five-minute duration. The prison inmates expressed their happiness over the introduction of this facility. Pathi Naganjaneyulu from Krishna district, Tadicherla Venkateswara Rao from Guntur, Karri Sambasiva Rao from Kakinada and D Suryanarayana from K Gangavaram utilised this facility during the inauguration. Pathi Naganjaneyulu, who is serving sentence for the last seven years, said this was the happiest moment for him as he was able to talk with his family members. The inmates expressed their gratitude to the prison authorities for giving them an opportunity to share their feelings with their families every week.