CHENNAI: With the prison visits being suspended owing to the pandemic, the introduction of ‘e-Mulakat’ online portal has helped over 770 persons in the State make video calls with their families and advocates in the last 15 days.
“For this initiative, we purchased 58 smartphones and issued them to the prisons. Apart from this, the inmates could also make their regular telephone calls,” said a press statement from the Prisons department. e-Mulakat was one of the many e-Prison initiatives carried out by the department.
Family members, friends and advocates of prisoners can book appointments for making video calls through the National Prisons Information Portal (https://eprisons.nic.in/public/MyVisitRegistration.aspx).
“Visitors are required to furnish their name, address, gender, age, mobile number, etc., along with the details of the prisoner they wish to speak to, and the mode of interview preferred, on the website.
After registration, approval for the interview is communicated to the visitors through SMS or e-mail,” the press statement added. Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services Sunil Kumar Singh said that the e-Mulakat system is both convenient and useful for the relatives and advocates for making hassle-free interviews of prisoners. The videoconference facility has commenced at 110 locations covering all the nine Central Prisons, five Special Prisons for Women, 12 District Jails, 84 Sub Jails and Special Sub Jails.