Abu Dhabi: Inmates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi jails are resorting to selling their quota of fruits and sandwiches to fellow prisoners in order to buy telephone cards, XPRESS has learnt.
Till a year ago, NGOs and welfare associations used to donate calling cards to inmates so they could call their families, but that practice was stopped after prison authorities introduced special calling cards usable only in jails.
Hard-pressed for cash to buy these cards sold for Dh25 inside prisons, many inmates trade their weekly quota of fruits with fellow prisoners who have money.
“We cannot afford to buy even one telephone card a month. We sell our share of oranges and bananas to other inmates to make Dh25 and buy a card,” an Indian prisoner told XPRESS by phone from Al Aweer prison in Dubai.
Inmates get an orange every Sunday and a banana on Fridays in Al Aweer Jail. These fruits find ready buyers among inmates with the current going price being Dh5, according to inmates.
“There are prisoners who make Dh4 or Dh5 a week by selling their weekly quota of fruits,” said the Indian who was imprisoned in 2009 for a cheating case.
“By the end of the month, we would have made about Dh25 to buy a calling card,” he added.
Another prisoner who is serving a life sentence in the same jail told this reporter by phone that he calls his wife and children once every two or three months by selling fruit. Occasionally he gets lucky when some businessman jailed for some financial crime lands in his cell and lends him Dh25 to buy a phone card.
“Madam, I am calling you on a card I just got from a rich businessman who is sharing my cell. He took pity on me when I told him I haven’t spoken to my two kids for a long time,” the 36-year-old inmate from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu told this reporter.
Similar trading of food also happens in the Al Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi. Sources told XPRESS some inmates make sandwiches from kuboos and meat they get for dinner and lunch.
“They sell it for about Dh7 to fellow inmates and make money,” said a legal source who regularly visits the prison.
Facing difficulties
Inmates in Dubai started facing difficulties calling their families in India after prison authorities stopped the use of regular cards available in shops outside. The new 20-digit etisalat calling card is exclusively for use inside the prisons and cannot be purchased outside.
“Social workers or diplomatic officials who occasionally visit the jail used to give us calling cards. Or our friends used to buy cards from outside and pass the number to us. But all that has stopped because the card we use now is not available outside,” said an inmate.
In Abu Dhabi, prisoners are facing issues mainly because of restrictions on making calls within the UAE.
“They are allowed to dial local numbers only if they are calling blood relatives. Those who are in jail for financial crimes are unable to reach out to their business partners or friends who can possibly help them to raise money,” said an Indian embassy official.
Financial constraints are also a concern for Abu Dhabi prisoners. Al Wathba jail follows a credit system called ‘AMANA’ which allows visitors to put credit into the individual accounts of inmates. They can use the amount to
Make calls or buy basic items.
Sources close to jails confirmed that inmates can make calls any day and at any time before 9pm.
Prison authorities were not available for a comment at the time of going to print.
Indian inmates said the issue of calling cards has been raised with the Indian authorities several times, but to no avail.
Indian officials from the embassy and the consulate pay weekly visits to jails where they meet with inmates and listen to their problems.
“We want the Indian authorities in the UAE to set aside a certain amount of money from the Indian Community Welfare Fund to help prisoners buy at least one or two calling cards a month,” said the inmate.
New Indian Ambassador T.P. Seetharam promised to resolve the matter during his visit to the Al Wathba prison last week.
Speaking to XPRESS, Seetharam said the embassy will take care of the issue through the Indian Community Welfare Fund and make sure telephone cards are available for all Indian prisoners in the UAE.
“I understand many prisoners do not have the means to buy phone cards. I can assure you we have already started depositing money in the prisoners’ accounts in Abu Dhabi.
“This will be soon extended to cover all the jails in the UAE to help deserving [Indian] inmates,” said the ambassador.
There are an estimated 1,200 Indian prisoners in the UAE, and 800 have signed an application for a jail swap to India under a UAE-India government agreement which is still to be implemented.
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