Kolkata: At a time when all vocational activities among the prisoners in the correctional homes across the state have come to a temporary standstill amidst the COVID -19 pandemic, the state Correctional Administration department has adopted an innovative approach to keep the inmates busy.
Interestingly, the inmates of the Central Correctional Homes have been engaged in the production of masks that are being donned by the police and prison staff who have been a reason for their imprisonment and incarceration. The inmates have already manufactured over 1,20,000 masks since the last week of March.
"There are eight central correctional homes and from each of them 10-15 odd inmates have been roped in for the production of masks. The masks they have produced have been acting as protective gear for not only the 22,000 odd inmates housed in 57 correctional homes across the state but also for the prison staff, Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police," said a senior official of the state Correctional Administration department.
Masks in two phases have been distributed among the 22,000 odd inmates. The third phase distribution is going on.
Around 50,000 masks each have been handed over to the Kolkata Police and Bengal Police. "The demand for masks in the government and administration level is immense and presently the inmates are working hard for this," the official added. Only the inmates of the new central correctional home in Baruipur could not be engaged in the initiative due to lack of infrastructure in the new prison.
Production of PPE kits has been initiated at Berhampore Central Correctional Home. The kits are sent to Tantuja (a state-owned handloom cooperative) for quality approval before being supplied to others. As of now, 1,500 PPE kits have been made for prison staff and more are in the pipeline for the police force.