Video on remand

Filmmakers portraying custody escapes on screen may soon have to think out of the box. The new video conferencing system being introduced at the IG Prisons in Tamil Nadu, will eliminate the practice of physically transporting prisoners to the courts of magistrates.

The new video conferencing system will facilitate the extension of remand by judicial magistrates without the prisoners being escorted to the courts.

The video technology allows multiple connectivity between locations, including the courts and the prisons and enables live interaction between the prisoner and the judge.

For starters, the system will connect 270 courts and nine prisons in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 8.61 crore. The jails include all seven central prisons and two jails earmarked for women in Vellore and Tiruchui are linked with the courts located in 59 complexes.

The Tamil Nadu prisons project has been implemented by Godrej's Prima Communication Solution. The integrated system transmits audio and visual information at 384 kbps (kilo bytes per second).

Sophisticated digital cameras and monitors are a part of the system. These are connected by ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) allowing audio-visual communication between the prisons and the courtroom and enabling the judges to speak to the prisoners.

Government officials claim that there are some advantages of implementing the new system. There is about Rs 10.69 crore saving on human resource and transport cost.

The technology also ensures that the risk of prisoners escaping from custody while being escorted to the courts can be reduced. Further, it is felt, it will help reduce building up of the unnecessary crowds at the court complexes.

"Interestingly, the National Informatic Centre was the first company to apply video conferencing, in a small way, in Bihar," informs Sorab Parekh, general manager (marketing) at Godrej & Boyce, Prima division .

The Rs 25- crore division of Godrej & Boyce, began when an individual in Hyderabad, bought their equipment to conduct a matrimonial interview.

"Since then, we've come a long way," says Parekh, " and are happy to inform that other states like Karnataka and Maharashtra are looking at implementing similar video-conferencing solutions for their prisons as well."