Corporates can lend a helping hand to prisoners and give them a second chance in life by imparting them skills, Inspector-General of Prisons (AP) B Sunil Kumar has said.
He was speaking here on Tuesday after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Himalaya Drug Company for cultivation of medicinal plants in the central jail at Adavivaram here. In the semi-open prison, the prisoners will cultivate alfalfa and other medicinal plants under guidance from the company. They will adopt good agricultural practices.
The company shall provide seeds and other inputs and the prison authorities the other requisites. The prisoners will get a regular monthly income and acquire skills for cultivating the medicinal plants.
Sunil Kumar said the Prisons Department was earning a profit of close to ₹2 lakh a day from the petrol dispensing outlet operated by the Chanchalguda Jail in Hyderabad. The petrol dispensing outlets in Rajahmundry and Kadapa were also a good source of income for the department as well as employment for prisoners.
A partnership with a telecom service provider has helped provide phone access to inmates to call up their homes and relatives, he said.
This facility would be extended to all the district jails and sub-jails by the year-end. He said corporates could set up a production facility in the prisons.
Dr. Babu, Head of phytochemistry (R&D), Himalaya Drug Company, said the company had helped the prisoners in Anantapur Open Prison Farm to learn cultivate medicinal grade alfalfa and once they complete the term, these prisoners will be able to take up cultivation on their own land and get a good income.
The Munaga that will be cultivated in Visakhapatnam Central Prison is a high quality plant that produces two to three foot long drumsticks and the prisoners will have to collect the leaves that would be used for making medicines, he explained.