Prisoners lodged in Khudiram Bose Central Jail, Muzaffarpur, would now learn the art of soap-making.

The decision has been taken as part of the jail administration's effort to keep the inmates positively engaged and the state government has given nod for the same. So far, about 100 prisoners have shown interest in learning the skill.

Soap making apart, the jail administration has also decided to set up handlooms, a decision which too has been approved by the state government, using which prisoners would make napkins and towels. "A sum of Rs 10 lakh would be spent in setting up the soap making plant. A detailed project report is being prepared for executing the project. Prisoners would make bathing soap which would carry the brand name Nirmal," central jail superintendent Jitendra Kumar told The Telegraph.

The jail already is into production of detergent soaps with the same brand name. "The success of Nirmal brand detergent encouraged us to plan of making bathing soap. Once the production starts, we would get a ready market for these soaps as we would be supplying it all the jails of the state," said the superintendent.

Bharat Singh, another jail officer, explained the economics of the venture while justifying the move of setting up soap making plant. "Every prisoner is provided one soap worth Rs 24 once in a month. At present, there are about 30,000 prisoners lodged in different jails of Bihar. Going by this fact, we would get a ready market worth more than Rs 7 lakh a month once we start production here," Bharat said.

In addition to this, he said, the prisoners engaged in soap making would come out of the jail after serving their respective terms with a new skill. This would help them get gainful employment.

The jail officials, however, did not share much about the handloom project claiming that details of the same were being worked out. "At present, all I can say that the project has been approved by the state government," said one of the officials.