Inmates of the Special Prison for Women, Chanchalguda, Hyderabad are stitching 5,000 school uniforms for boys and girls. These uniforms, stitched by women prisoners will be worn by students of various social welfare schools in Telangana. For the first time, a garment manufacturing unit has been set up in the jail at a cost of Rs 10 lakh sanctioned by the Telangana prisons department authorities. Experts have trained 25 women prisoners in tailoring and designing.

Basheera Begum, prison superintendent said that the unit has 25 sewing machines, which run on power. In Telangana, there are 14 social welfare hostels for boys and girls, out of which some have already placed an order with the women's prison for stitching the uniforms for students. The social welfare department would otherwise pay the amount to private tailors, which they now pay to the jail.

DG Prison's V K Singh has also asked prison authorities to contact several other government departments to get orders for stitching. A prison official said that they wanted to work with government departments to meet their requirements and stitch uniforms. However, they are also looking forward to any work orders from private organisations.

The whole purpose of getting the women prisoners to work in any units set up in the prison is to equip them for employment after their release apart from earning revenue for the jail and pay inmates’ wages.