Arrested in the Commonwealth Games scam, former chairman of the Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi, lodged in a single-prisoner cell in Tihar’s jail number 4, can now make calls to family, friends and lawyers. The Tihar Jail officials on Tuesday announced extended phone facilities to the inmates.
Reliable sources in the jail administration had earlier stated that Mr Kalmadi had requested the jail officials for a phone facility.
However, chief PRO of the Tihar Jail Sunil Gupta had maintained, “This is a reformative step and would help the prisoners in maintaining calm and composure during regular interactions with their families will lower their stress levels.”
According to jail officials, the initiative was launched in March 2010 but inmates booked under stringent laws like the MCOCA, Pota and Tada were not allowed the facility. “However, this time, everybody has been included regardless of the crime committed by them as adequate safety measures will be taken,” added Mr Gupta. Mr Gupta further confirmed: “There will be recording facilities and staff will be deployed at the booths to make sure that the language spoken by a prisoner is easily understood. Other officers will randomly pick up parallel lines to further keep a check on the calls.” The Tihar officials further stated that the prisoners convicted in the high profile cases will be kept in an extra vigil.
However, the facility does not come free of cost. An inmate interested to avail the facility will have to shell out `100 for making local calls and `200 for outstation calls for a month’s time.