Every morning, Saranya* wakes up looking forward to a new day. “Today, I’m in charge of making laddus, my favourite dish,” she says, as she walks up to the kitchen at the Special Prisons for Women, Puzhal, after breakfast.
Saranya is among the 10 inmates who are employed to make snacks to sell at the Prison Bazaar. “We have to stick to the menu. However, sometimes, we try and incorporate little changes to improve the flavour. Like while making kaara boondhi , we either use chick peas flour or besan , or add a dash of extra spice to make it tasty and crunchy. It keeps us engaged,” says Vatsala,* another inmate.
Both Saranya and Vatsala are life convicts. For most inmates, involvement in the prison industry has given them a new lease of life.
Apart from rehabilitating and helping prisoners learn new skills, the Tamil Nadu Prison Department also generates a substantial amount of income. In 2016, the department, through the prison industry, made a turnover of ₹40 crore. The women’s prison in Puzhal alone earned a profit of ₹50,000 last month. Apart from sweets and snacks, the industry also produces items such as uniform clothes and caps for policemen, clothes for convicts, sealing wax, sanitary napkins, postal covers, handmade papers and phenyl.
“We also learn lot of new things here like jewellery making and designing, which will be helpful once we go out,” says Amala*, a remand prisoner.
“Also, the fact that our prison bazaar outlet is quite popular among the locals keeps us motivated to produce quality products,” says Saranya.
Share in profit
Of the total profit, 20% goes to the prisoners who work to produce the goods, 20 % to the government account, 20% to the Prison Staff Welfare Fund and the remaining 40% to the Tamil Nadu Prison Department Manufacture of Goods Fund.
Skilled prisoners earn ₹100 per day, while semi-skilled and unskilled prisoners earn ₹80 and ₹60 per day as their wages. Out of their total wages, 50% is deducted for their maintenance of upkeep, 20% is deducted for the Victim Compensation Fund and 30% is credited into prisoners savings account.
There are currently around 15,000 prisoners lodged in 126 prisons across Tamil Nadu, of which 14, 256 are men and 697 are women. The Special Prison in Puzhal currently has a strength of around 155 women.
“The idea is to reform and rehabilitate prisoners and steer them in a positive and meaningful direction. Several inmates, after getting bail, have moved on to set up businesses from the training offered here,” says a senior officer from the Prison Department. The officer also adds that the NGOs the Department has collaborated with, help those out on bail with placements. “It has so far been largely successful,” the officer says.
The department is eyeing a ₹100-crore turnover through its prison industry, and plans to introduce new methods of sale. “The inmates are free to work in the industry when they want to, it is only their hard work that earned so much revenue. But we think we can earn more profit in the near future and are working towards that,” says the officer.
*(names changed to protect identity)
