To ensure families of convicts serving sentence in jails did not suffer from financial crisis, the state government has decided to provide a part of the earnings of the inmates to their kin.

Crime Affected Welfare Trust, set up by the government, would select the names of the beneficiaries of the earnings of the convicted prisoners.

Inspector-general (prisons) Anand Kishore said: “According to the decision, one-third of the total earnings of the convicted prisoners will be given to the families of those who had to suffer because of the offences committed by the former.”

Kishore said the state government undertook such an initiative for the first time. The prison department expects more than 5,000 families to benefit from the new scheme.

Sources said about Rs 5 crore, deposited as part of the earnings of the convicted prisoners in the past few years, would be distributed among the affected families soon. The convicts serving sentences in eight central jails are given wages for their work in prisons.

“Earlier, the earnings of the convicted prisoners were given to them after their release from the jail,” a senior jail department officer said.

The government has set up small-scale industries in central jails to provide work to the convicted prisoners. They are enrolled in various vocations — bakery, printing press, pottery, carpentry, weaving and spinning.

The jail inmates generated an annual turnover of Rs 11.38 crore during the 2010-2011 financial year. The highest revenue generated by the Buxar central jail was to the tune of Rs 9.27 crore.

Sources said the jail inmates had not only been honing skills of traditional crafts but also learnt making craft items, which are in tune with the taste of residents in metro cities. The products made by the jail inmates were sold at International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.

“The products made in the state jails were a big hit and the department earned a good profit from them,” said director of industries (prison department) BCP Singh.

The garden umbrella and jhula (swing) produced at Buxar central jail are not made in any other prison of the country, the director said. Lifer, a soap produced at the Buxar central jail, is also rated highly.