 "'Prison call system' comes as a boon to convicts")
Seven central prisons in Karnataka have been equipped with the ‘Prison Call System’ which enables the inmates to be in touch with family members without flouting rules.
Central prisons in Dharwad, Vijayapura, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Ballari and Tumkuru have had this facility for last two months as a pilot project. The facility allows the prisoner (undertrial or convict) to make a phone call to any two numbers of his family members four times in a month for a maximum of five minutes each.
The ‘Turbo Consultancy Limited’ which introduced the facility at Tihar jail in Delhi has installed the facility Karnataka prisons. It has set up kiosks at the prison where BSNL has provided telephone connection. The prisoners opting for the facility should register his name with the authorities and give two telephone numbers of the persons he wishes to speak to. These numbers are verified for their genuineness and to ensure that the calls are not made with any criminal intent.
“We cannot deny the prisoners their legitimate right to be in touch with their family. There is a provision for convicts to meet their relatives at the jail but the family members from far off places cannot come and meet the prisoners. A large number of inmates lodged in prisons suffer a very high degree of stress and behavioural problem because of the limited and infrequent contact with their dear ones. On account of the reclusion, they also develop physiological and psychological disorders. A convict is sent to the prison as punishment and not for punishment. Today in the global scenario on reformatory concept of sentencing and open prisons, the request of a prisoner for a base minimum phone call facility deserves consideration” said ADGP (Prisons) Kamal Pant.
Superintendent of Dharwad Central prison P S Ramesh said, the security issues are being addressed by utilising sophisticated telecommunication technology, voice logger and Call Monitoring System. Curtailment of liberty in itself is recognised globally as a punishment. Delhi High Court had issued orders on November 11, 2009 to the Delhi government to provide such a facility to prison inmates with certain stipulations,” he explained.
In Dharwad Central Prison which has 550 inmates, has so far only 65 convicts registering their names to use this facility. Of them, six are women prisoners. “Undertrials keep coming and going while the convicts are lodged in the jail for a fixed term and they cannot go out frequently like undertrials. Hence we expected more convicts to use the facility” said Ramesh.
For the 29 year-old Somashekhar of Hassan who is serving a life sentence in a murder case and has been in Dharwad prison for the last 10 years, the new facility has come as a boon. He was just 19 year-old when he got involved in a murder case following a dispute over property and was convicted. “I was all the while worried about my mother and wanted to speak to her. Now the Prison Call System has enabled me to be in touch with my mother and sister and kept me cheerful,” Somashekhar said.
Central prisons in Dharwad, Vijayapura, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Ballari and Tumkuru have had this facility for last two months as a pilot project. The facility allows the prisoner (undertrial or convict) to make a phone call to any two numbers of his family members four times in a month for a maximum of five minutes each.
The ‘Turbo Consultancy Limited’ which introduced the facility at Tihar jail in Delhi has installed the facility Karnataka prisons. It has set up kiosks at the prison where BSNL has provided telephone connection. The prisoners opting for the facility should register his name with the authorities and give two telephone numbers of the persons he wishes to speak to. These numbers are verified for their genuineness and to ensure that the calls are not made with any criminal intent.
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Once the numbers are accepted by the authorities, the prisoner will be allowed to speak to those numbers twice a week for five minutes each. The call is auto recorded and a jail staff member will be present to overhear what the prisoner speaks. The call will automatically get disconnected after five minutes. Each call is charged at the rates fixed by BSNL and the prisoners can pay out of their earnings in the jail.
“We cannot deny the prisoners their legitimate right to be in touch with their family. There is a provision for convicts to meet their relatives at the jail but the family members from far off places cannot come and meet the prisoners. A large number of inmates lodged in prisons suffer a very high degree of stress and behavioural problem because of the limited and infrequent contact with their dear ones. On account of the reclusion, they also develop physiological and psychological disorders. A convict is sent to the prison as punishment and not for punishment. Today in the global scenario on reformatory concept of sentencing and open prisons, the request of a prisoner for a base minimum phone call facility deserves consideration” said ADGP (Prisons) Kamal Pant.
Superintendent of Dharwad Central prison P S Ramesh said, the security issues are being addressed by utilising sophisticated telecommunication technology, voice logger and Call Monitoring System. Curtailment of liberty in itself is recognised globally as a punishment. Delhi High Court had issued orders on November 11, 2009 to the Delhi government to provide such a facility to prison inmates with certain stipulations,” he explained.
In Dharwad Central Prison which has 550 inmates, has so far only 65 convicts registering their names to use this facility. Of them, six are women prisoners. “Undertrials keep coming and going while the convicts are lodged in the jail for a fixed term and they cannot go out frequently like undertrials. Hence we expected more convicts to use the facility” said Ramesh.
For the 29 year-old Somashekhar of Hassan who is serving a life sentence in a murder case and has been in Dharwad prison for the last 10 years, the new facility has come as a boon. He was just 19 year-old when he got involved in a murder case following a dispute over property and was convicted. “I was all the while worried about my mother and wanted to speak to her. Now the Prison Call System has enabled me to be in touch with my mother and sister and kept me cheerful,” Somashekhar said.