Hyderabad: New ways to weed out crooks

Hyderabad: The prisons department set up third-party call centres to sniff out the corrupt. 

Under this project, an ex-prisoner receives a call from a person claiming to be from an NGO, HRC or the press asking him about his jail time and experiences, assuring the inmate that his identity would be kept anonymous.

If the ex-prisoner says he was asked for a bribe, action is taken within the next 48 hours. The prisoner’s statement is cross-checked and investigated on the first day, and action taken the next day if the charges are proved. The ex-inmate receives a cash prize of Rs 10,000 if he is proved right. To obtain real-time feedback from released inmates, the department started the third-party call centre.

“We contacted 1,290 released prisoners in 2017 and 596 till April this year. Of them, only 40 had complaints whereas the rest of them spoke well of the department,” Prisons DG V.K. Singh said, adding that most of them complained of food, bad behaviour and delay in being released on bail.

If a case of bribe or corruption was recorded, immediate action is taken. Recalling an incident, Mr Singh said, “There was an instance where two men offered to pay a certain amount to the officials here as a token of respect and gratitude, which was however politely declined, to their surprise. They said that at times where most people demand things to get their work done, it was refreshing to know that we have such diligent officials.”