Pune : Now, Video Calling Facility For Foreign Prisoners
By: Pune Pulse
July 15, 2023
Pune: Inspector General of Prisons Amitabh Gupta has directed all prison heads in the state to provide video calling facility to the prisoners through an e-prison system to communicate with families and relatives of foreign prisoners except Pakistani, Bangladeshi and militant activities prisoners in the Maharashtra Prisons and Correctional Services Department.
As per information, from July 4 this facility has been made available to all the prisoners from the perspective of humanity. At present, 637 prisoners of foreign origin are registered in various prisons of the state. In this, the number of foreign inmates in jails in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and other metropolitan cities is higher. Citizens of Nigeria, Bangladesh, Kenya, Colombia, Iran, Iraq, England, Greece, Guinea, Ghana, Brazil, Thailand, Uganda, China, Pakistan, Nepal etc countries are also arrested and lodged in prison for various crimes.
As the relatives or lawyers of the foreign prisoners cannot come to meet them, it becomes difficult for the foreign prisoners to get legal help and to be released from prison. Due to this, depression begins to increase among foreign prisoners. The prison administration has to constantly monitor them. Making this facility available to foreign nationals will help them get faster legal aid and help them get out of jail sooner. This will help to reduce the overcrowding in the jails to some extent.
The facility was recently first used by a Nigerian foreign detainee lodged in Arthur Road Jail and his relative through video conferencing through the e-prison system developed by NIC under the guidance of the Union Home Department after meeting all technical requirements. Special Inspector General of Police of Jails Dr Jalinder Supekar said that the responsibility of implementing this facility successfully for foreign detainees lies with Gupta.
