BANGALORE: The bakers in the city will face competition from the convicts of the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara as the sale of bakery products prepared by the prioners will begin from Thursday. The inmates, who are being taught various skills for livelihood, have mastered the art of baking.
The officials of the Department of Prisons said that about 20 convicts were trained in baking and they were preparing breads, buns and biscuits. Officially, the prison bakery will be inaugurated on Thursday by the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Prisons K V Gagandeep. The department’s staff will start selling them at M S Building near Vidhana Soudha.
“The inmates are trained by professionals for over a week. Their initial target is 500 breads, 200 buns and 25 kilos of salt and sugar biscuits per day. In phases, we have plans to maximise the production as more number of convicts would be trained,” the officials stated.
Gagandeep said that the products made by convicts are branded as ‘Parivarthana’. “When I recently visited Tihar Jail, I learnt that convicts are making bakery products there. I felt even in Bangalore jail, we can try the same thing and the project was initiated. Later, we got professionals to train our inmates,” he explained.
He also added that the products would be sold at prices lesser than those in private bakeries.
“The profits would be given to the inmates,” he said.