indian prisoners to now work as call-centre employees

Hyderabad is one of India’s biggest centres of business process outsourcing, a $30bn industry in which many global firms subcontract key functions to local companies.

A high-security prison near Hyderabad is launching an innovative scheme to turn convicts into “outsourcing providers” for local firms and eventually, it is hoped, international clients.

The scheme is in its early stages, with prisoners being trained in basic data entry skills. Jail authorities hope that inmates will soon be just as likely to tap at a keyboard as dig vegetables, make carpets or stitch uniforms.

“We have got so many computer literates and professionals in our prison,” said Gopinath Reddy, director general of prisons in the state of Andhra Pradesh. So far they are not being fully recognised, but now their knowledge will be utilised for the nation and when they go out they can also lead a meaningful life.”

Read more at the Guardian