BPO to be set up for Andhra jail inmates

The much awaited one-month training capsule for the BPO in prison was launched by the Andhra Pradesh Jails Department on the occasion of the state formation day on November 1.

The Bangalore-based Radiant Technologies is training the first batch of 10 prisoners, who will in turn train another 100 to man a first-of-its kind BPO.

Radiant will also provide the systems, and the jails department has agreed to provide the required furniture for the facility. The BPO will take up projects like data processing and data entry.

Officials had a tough time selecting members for the first batch, as there are a number of MBAs, MScs and BTechs among the applicants. Only those inmates with a good conduct record will be given employment.

Director-General (Prisons) CN Gopinath Reddy told Deccan Herald that employees would be selected from among the convicts and not under-trail prisoners. The department also wanted to provide similar training for women prisoners in jails.

Each prisoner associated with the BPO will be paid a salary of around Rs 6,000 per month in addition to the general government allowance. Out of the salary paid to each prisoner working in the BPO, one-third will be diverted to the prisoner’s victim fund and the remaining will be given to him.

“It will be operated on Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The TCS will be providing hardware equipment and Radiant Technologies will help with training and other services,’’ Reddy said.