Prisoners at Bagerhat District Jail will now be able to talk to their loved ones over phone.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Md Sagir Mia of the Department of Prisons (Khulna Division) confirmed this to The Daily Star.

The DIG inaugurated the service at the jail this afternoon.

The service was inaugurated by an emotional Ilias Hossain, a prisoner who has been there for 20 years, who used the opportunity to call his wife, our Bagerhat correspondent reports.

Prisoners at the jail will be allowed five minutes every week to talk to their dear ones -- parents, wife, children, and siblings -- over phone. For every minute, they will be charged one taka, the DIG prisons said.

A senior prison-guard will accompany the prisoners during the conversation.

The service will be available from 9:00am to 12:00pm and again from 1:00pm to 3:00pm every day, he added.