Male' City Prison has started using the three courtrooms developed in-house to conduct hearings online for inmates and those under remand.

At a ceremony held yesterday, the courtrooms were inaugurated by the Commissioner of Prisons, Ahmed Mohamedfulhu. The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons, Ibrahim Mujamadhu Didi, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Mohamed Asif and the Director of Male' Jail, Deputy Superintendent of Prisons, Mohamed Thol'hath along with a number of commissioned officers of the Correctional Service.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Commissioner of Prisons said that the three courtrooms are a major achievement to the Correctional Service and reflect the efforts from the previous year to hold hearings online.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic forced a numbered of work to be done online and the Correctional Service worked hard to establish remote court hearings.

There are 298 people in their custody until the end of the trial, according to the Commissioner of Prisons, and 80 percent of them have their cases in the various magistrate courts in the atolls. And transporting them for their respective hearings would be difficult and costly.

However, with the in-house courtrooms note being used, the costs can be reduced considerably.