The convicts will be calling potential clients and offering them goods and services provided by companies involved in a project created by the Czech Republic’s Prison Service and the Ministry of Justice.
"This job is a good chance for those who want to advance. I will be able to pay my debts and avoid simply sitting in my cell dying of boredom. Previously I only did physical labor at construction sites, but here I’ll be able to gain new experience. I can do something useful not just for myself, but for other people and for the company," said Jiří Galoš, one of the inmates.
It should be noted that a call center previously operated in Vinařice Prison, however the project was suspended due to concerns that inmates could gain access to clients’ personal information. Now however, after new precautions were put in place, the program has been restarted.
The inmates only see a client’s name on the display when communicating with him or her, and are not privy to personal phone numbers as they are dialed automatically.
"At the end of a conversation, the inmate informs the potential client that in order to process his personal information he will be contacted by another employee. Then we run a verification process, and if the client agrees, he gets contacted by our employee. All personal information is of course collected and processed outside of the prison walls," Věra Babišová, a representative of a telecommunication company involved in the project, explained.
The prison administration also believes that this arrangement will help the inmates to pay their incarceration expenses. Currently, keeping one person behind bars costs Czech taxpayers about 1,480 euros per month.
