Jim Croce must be turning over in his grave. Remember his song "Operator"? Here's a snippet of the lyrics:
Operator, well could you help me place this call?
See, the number on the matchbook is old and faded.
She's living in L. A. with my best old ex-friend Ray, A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated.
Isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well, let's forget all that and give me the number if you can find it, So I can call just to tell 'em I’m fine and to show I've overcome the blow. I’ve learned to take it well -- I only wish my words could just convince myself that it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels
Well, if you live in Rome and happen to call for directory assistance, Italy's biggest phone operator (Telecom Italia) just might route your call to one of 24 assistants glued to a computer screen answering thousands of requests for phone numbers and addresses every day.
Oh, by the way did I mention that the operators are incarcerated in Rome's largest prison (the Rebibbia jail, a huge concrete block housing 1,600 inmates on the northern outskirts of Rome)?
Telecom's Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera gushed as he toured the facility:
"This is a unique initiative in Europe and it helps the detainees get some work experience and prepare for when they'll get out of prison"
Gianluca Descenzo, who is serving a 13-year sentence for a drug-related murder, agrees. "It's good because people don't know who we are, so we don't feel like we are in a ghetto anymore," he told Reuters as he paused before taking another call.
The detainees get paid 12 cents ($0.15) per call answered and on a normal day each one of them deals with around 200 requests for information. "Jails should not only be a place for punishment. They need not be a permanent hell, they must also give opportunities to people," said Justice Minister Clemente Mastella as he visited the call-center.
Thankfully, Telecom says there is no security risk in having detainees consult a nationwide database of phone numbers and addresses. The prisoners cannot dial outside the jail and the company's computerized switchboard randomly directs each call to any one of Telecom's 45 call centers scattered across Italy.
No.Security.Risk.
Sign me, Skeptical in the States.
