Steel furniture, hospital beds, classroom benches, wooden tables, soaps, floor cleaners, honey and even products made from discarded tyres and temple flowers are among the goods being produced inside Telangana’s prisons, with the department increasingly turning its workshops into a showcase of quality, affordability and sustainability.The prison industries currently manufacture a diverse range of products, with steel and carpentry emerging as the most prominent production units. Their output includes classroom benches, hospital beds, office tables, iron cots, double-bunker cots, computer tables, chairs and mobile stands. Director General of Prisons, Soumya Mishra, said government departments, hospitals, courts and educational institutions are among their regular customers, apart from the regular public.
Inmates engaged in manufacturing at the Chanchalguda jail.
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By Arrangement
The range extends well beyond furniture. “Prison workshops manufacture black and scented phenyl, floor and toilet cleaners, hand wash, liquid soap, dish wash, bath soaps and herbal bath powder, while inmates also make durries, door mats, bed sheets, towels, notebooks and paper bags,” the officer said.The inmates are given a wage for their work, with payments linked to their skill level. Under the latest Government Order (GO), highly skilled inmates earn ₹200 a day, skilled workers ₹150, semi-skilled workers ₹125 and unskilled workers ₹100. Half of the wages are deposited into the inmate’s bank account and can be withdrawn after release, while the remaining 50% is credited to their Personal Prison Cash account and can be used during imprisonment or sent to their families.
