After the Kerala prisoners, inmates of eight central prisons in Karnataka set out to manufacture 5,000 face masks per day. In a joint venture, the prison inmates across the state are ready to produce the face masks in bulk amounts to compete the scarcity of the item. The prisoners have been pitching in to manufacture the masks for their own use and as well as for the police department.
A well appreciative venture
Surprisingly, the inmates have so far sold almost 17,000 masks to the Home department hitherto.
According to the Karnataka Prisons and Correctional Services Director General NS Megharikh, "We were set to buy masks for our own staff and realised there aren't enough available. That's when we decided to manufacture these in prison. The inmates have been involved in the process of manufacturing the masks for a week now."
The prisons in the state are of a total of 15,000. The masks are sold at a rate of Rs 6 per piece to the police as well as to the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board, in addition to the masks being used by the inmates and the prison staff.
In a new measure to prevent the spread of the virus in the prisons, the Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that those to be jailed hereafter would be kept in isolation for 10 days before being put in prison with other inmates.
Kerala prisons move to produce sanitisers
In another major move, the prisoners in Kerala on the other hand, have now come up with manufacturing hand sanitisers.
According to the DIG of Prisons Santosh Kumar, over 5,000 masks were now being made daily at around 25 prisons in Kerala. It is being supplied mainly to the Kerala Health Department and other state and central government institutions. Considering the scarcity of the commodity in the open market, a limited sale to the public is also under consideration.
