Intercom facility launched in Madurai prison for inmates to converse with visitors

MADURAI: In a first in southern Tamil Nadu, the Madurai Central Prison on Monday introduced the usage of intercom to facilitate communication between prison inmates and their visitors.

Sources said family members, relatives and legal counsels of inmates have to submit a petition seeking permission to meet the inmates. Visitors are then allowed to meet remand prisoners on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while convicts (including detainees under the Goondas Act) can meet their families and counsels on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "Until now, the prisoners had to talk to visitors through a two-metre grill separation in a room. Everyone used to talk loudly and no one got any privacy," they said.

DIG (Madurai Range) D Pazhani inaugurated the intercom service on Monday upon directions from Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services Amaraesh Pujari. Now, 16 pairs of phones have been readied for the inmates and visitors to converse. A batch of 16 visitors would be allowed at a time and would be allowed to speak through the intercom for 10 minutes. Each inmate can meet upto three visitors at a time. This facility would be extended to other district prisons in the future, added sources from the department.