Land line phone facility planned for prisoners in Tamil Nadu

Prisoners lodged in central jails in Tamil Nadu can now interact with their family members as the authorities have decided to extend land line telephone facility to all inmates.


The move would benefit about 13,000 prisoners who would be allowed to speak to their close relatives and advocates for a fee of Rs 30 a month, prison department officials here said.

A separate land line for this purpose would be provided in all the prisons and it is expected to start functioning in about three months. The facility would be later extended to sub-jails.

The system was being introduced in the wake of series of complaints about the prisoners using mobile phones illegally, the officials said.

In some cases, the prisoners had even used the mobile phone to give instructions to their associates outside to carry out criminal activities including murder and extortion.

Officials said the prisoner's relatives should pay Rs 30 in advance to avail the facility.

Each prisoner would be given the facility to contact only two numbers - that of their advocate and their close relative. The prison telephone exchange would not allow calls to any other number made without the knowledge of authorities and the conversations would be recorded.

Illegal use of mobile phones in Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Madurai Prisons had earlier come to light.