Around 140 inmates of the Nagpur Central Prison were given State Bank of India ATM cards on Wednesday for use inside the premises. The service will be extended to all 800 prisoners of the facility, along with over 10,000 inmates in nine central prisons across Maharashtra, reported PTI.

Maharashtra Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), Dr Bhushan Kumar Upadhyaya, said that prisoners can spend up to Rs 2,500 per month using the cards. The inmates can swipe the cards in the canteen to purchase daily use items like soaps, hair oil and eatables against the payment they receive for doing work on the premises. They can also use the cards once they are released after serving their terms.

Upadhyay also said that prisoners practising yoga are entitled for remission up to a maximum of three months. Senior officials of the Maharashtra Police's prisons department recommended including yoga as part of the reformation curriculum across all central prisons starting this year, after getting the idea during an official visit to Israel to study the country's security setup.