Mangaluru: If everything goes as per plan, Mangaluru Prison will shortly have an outlet to sell the items prepared by the jail inmates.
Following good response from the prison inmates to the skill development program, the Mangaluru Prison officials have decided to write to their higher ups to grant permission to open an outlet outside the prison.
The inmates have started making artificial garlands, growing saplings, and wooden materials.
The District Prison at Mangaluru houses undertrials. Of the 200 plus undertrials, 40 of them have expressed interest in getting themselves involved in skill development works.
The aim of the prison department is not only to train them but to ensure that the training helps them in making a livelihood once they are released.
“The inmates have shown interest in learning such skills. In just one day’s training provided by Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) the inmates have made about 103 artificial garlands in about 15 days,” Prison superintendent B T Obaleshappa said.
K Narendra Shenoy from Lamin Frame Gallery gives training on making wooden handicraft items. The handicraft items are easy to make as the inmates just need to arrange them. Retired assistant horticulture officer Jagannath provides training on growing saplings. Apart from saplings of flowering plants, focus is given to growing arecanut sapling as they have good demand in the region.
“We teach them how to select arecanut for sapling and how to grow them. Once they are released they can do it independently. Instead of wasting time, they would not only be engaged in some constructive work but also learn for their future,” Obaleshappa said.
“We will also write to our department for permission to open an outlet near the prison entrance so that the products made in the prison can be sold there. This will be a source of income for the inmates also,” he added.
