MADURAI
A renovated hotel, a part of Freedom Bazaar run by Madurai Central Prison, was opened here on Monday.
Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) R. Kanagaraj formally inaugurated it in the presence of Central Prison Superintendent M. Urmila.
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“The hotel has been modernised with its interior sporting a fresh look as a private restaurant,” Mr. Kanagaraj said.
The hotel, manned by convict prisoners of the jail, was planned to provide quality food for visitors of prisoners at an affordable rate. Food items like idli, dosa, vada and pongal for breakfast, and meals and variety rice for lunch would be available in the hotel.
The prisoners had been trained in catering through which they could earn money during their sentence period.
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Mr. Kanagaraj said, “Besides, it would help them find employment or become entrepreneurs when they leave the jail.”
Twenty per cent of the profit accrued from the Freedom Bazaar would be shared among the prisoners.
The jail authorities had also planned to resume the sale of fish reared on the jail premises. “Due to the drought condition, fish rearing was suspended here,” he said.
A special squad had been checking the cells in the jail to prevent the possibility of prisoners stealthily using mobile phones, he said.