TN prison dept procures 58 phones to help prisoners video call family members during coronavirus lockdown

Chennai: The Puzhal prison administration in Chennai has restricted visitors to the jail premises. This comes based on the order to follow social distancing and lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak in the country.

According to reports, around 2,000 prisoners are currently lodged and video call facility is being arranged for the inmates to interact with their families. The Tamil Nadu prison department has procured 58 Android mobile phone sets for the entire state.

In Puzhal, there 1,500 inmates in Prison 1 and 500 convicts in Prison 2. For Prison 1, eight phones are given, Prison 2 has five phones and the women prison with 100-odd inmates has one phone.

According to sources, each inmate can speak for ten minutes. The phones are circulated daily from morning till 5 pm. Recently, 400 remand prisoners were given interim bail. They have to appear before court on April 30.