Giving new lease of life to jail inmates

Khammam: Finding a job for those who just came out of prison is not all that easy. But the Telangana State Prisons Department is one step ahead as it has plans to give a new lease of life to ex-convicts and to those serving their term in the jail.

In order to make 130 prisoners in Khammam prison ready for employment, after serving their term, the jail authorities are providing higher education through distance mode, besides encouraging them to take up vocational courses and skill development programmes.

The Prisons department which already established six petrol bunks elsewhere in the State has commenced one in Khammam on Wednesday and entrusted the duty of running it to five ex-convicts and three prisoners who have shown good behaviour.

Khammam District Prison sprawling over 40 acres has a natural pond. Recently, the authorities released 4,000 fingerlings in the one-and-a-half acre pond and entrusted the duty of rearing them to two prisoners.

Director General of Police, Prisons Department, VK Singh, who inaugurated the petrol bunk in Khammam, said, “We are aiming to open 100 more petrol bunks in the State. Prisons are not just correctional homes, they are also a place where inmates get an opportunity to earn a livelihood up on their release.”

“We are also focused on training the prisoners in carpentry, tailoring and masonry. After their term, we will also try to provide them placements requesting the business houses to recruit them,” Khammam District Sub Jails Officer G Ramchander told The Hans India.
“We are also providing marketing facility to the items produced in the jail made by the inmates,” he said, stating that if they were employed properly, they would stay away from crime in the future.

Referring to the petrol bunks run by the Prisons department, he said they had a good patronage from the consumers as the bunks created a confidence of providing unadulterated petrol and diesel.