An officer of Maldives Correctional Service pictured outside Male Prison. PHOTO: NISHAN ALI/MIHAARU
Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) have cut off international call privileges for inmates.
In a notice, MCS declared that from last Thursday onwards, convicts currently serving prison sentences would be allowed phone calls only to the networks of locally based telecoms, Dhiraagu and Ooredoo.
MCS referred to the regulations under the Prisons and Parole Bill, which state that only phone numbers of locally based networks may be registered for inmates’ call privileges.
The privileges provided for incarcerated convicts include phone calls with their families, meeting with families, and private visits.
Previously, visitors were also allowed to bring certain food, such as snacks and cakes, to inmates. However MCS banned gifts early last year, after some visitors were caught smuggling in substances such as drugs, hidden inside such gifts, to inmates.