Digital kiosks to empower Maharashtra prison inmates with information accessibility

In a pioneering initiative, the state home department of Maharashtra is set to introduce digital kiosks equipped with biometric facilities in prisons across the region. This technology will provide inmates, including both convicts and undertrials, with easy access to essential information such as upcoming court dates, the extent of their sentences, details about leaves, and more.

Amitabh Gupta, the additional director-general of police (prisons), expressed readiness to implement this initiative, stating, “We have all the data ready and will start installing the kiosks very soon in prisons.” Currently, inmates are required to approach prison authorities for information about their punishments, bank account details (related to prison payments and funds sent by relatives), leave details (furlough and parole), next court dates (virtual or offline), release dates, and other pertinent information. This often involves written applications submitted to prison authorities.

Gupta elaborated, “We collect biometric data of all the inmates when they enter the prisons, and we correlate these biometric features with the information required by the inmates, maintaining it in an online database. The work on this front is ongoing.”
Inmates will have the convenience of walking up to the kiosks and scanning their fingertips on the machine to retrieve their details on the screen. Initially, each prison will receive one unit in a format similar to an ATM. Additional units will be installed based on demand.

“The move will reduce work pressure on the prison authorities as well as lessen the anxieties of inmates,” Gupta affirmed. Maharashtra houses nine central prisons, 36 district prisons, one women’s prison, 18 open prisons, and several other facilities, accommodating approximately 42,000 inmates.