CHENNAI : After supplying several hundred thousand boots, under the brand ‘Freedom’, to personnel in uniformed services across the State, the skilled workers at the 157-year-old boot-making unit in Vellore Central Prison for Men are engaged in crafting trendy leather shoes for civilians. The wide range of fashionable shoes will be available in prison bazaars and police canteens across the State by mid-December this year. The department is also contemplating opening an outlet at Chennai Airport and selling the products in police canteens in neighbouring States to attract new customers for the ‘Freedom’ brand, under which the prison department has been selling all the products manufactured by the inmates of the central prisons in the State.
“We will explore all options to promote the high-quality and trendy shoes from our unit. Efforts to open an outlet at Chennai Airport are under way. If we receive a good response, we will scale up production,” said a senior official from the prison department.
The department’s effort is aimed at reviving the unit that was established in 1867. The unit has been producing boots for the men in khaki – police, prison, and fire service departments. In November 2018, the unit began manufacturing boots exclusively for female personnel.
A total of 95 inmates are working in the unit that was renovated a couple of years ago to augment manufacturing capacity to 15,000 pairs per month. Each of them earns around Rs 5,000 per month and sup.