Berhampur: Sale of different items, including foods made by inmates of Berhampur circle jail has doubled in 2025, a prison official said.
The jail inmates are producing textile items including bed-sheets, towels, shirting, prison kurta, scarf, etc, water drum, rice tray, bucket, mug, dal cane, dust lifter, vermin composts inside the jail, he said.
Similarly, they also produced food items like atta, besan, turmeric powder, ragi powder, chhatua, and mustard oil inside the jail.
Besides supplying for its own consumption, the jail authorities have also made provision for selling these items to the public, the officer said.
The sale of the food and non-food items in public doubled in a year after they opened an outlet outside the prison for public, said DN Barik, senior superintendent of the circle jail.
The jail items worth Rs 6.95 lakh sold in 2024, which increased to Rs 14.53 lakh in 2025. This included Rs 7.97 lakh of non-food items and Rs 6.56 lakh of food items, he said.
The jail inmates had produced total food, non-food and vegetable items worth Rs 47.39 lakh and Rs 37.54 lakh in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The textile items like bed-sheets, towels and prison dresses, produced by the circle jail here, were also supplied to other 22 jails in Ganjam and other districts.
Earlier, people did not show interest in coming to the jail to buy the jail products. But now they purchase various items from the outlet, set up outside the prison, Barik said.
Besides, they have also maintained quality in all of the products, including food items. The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has certified the food products produced by the jail inmates, he said.
“As the demand for made-in-jail items increased among the public, we are planning to open another outlet in a strategic location in the city to sell the products. We will request the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) to provide a room for the purpose,” said the jail superintendent.
PTI
