Chennai: Of the 363 prison inmates from across the state who appeared for the SSLC examinations this year, 349 passed, translating to an overall pass percentage of 96.14%, the prisons and correctional services department stated.

According to an official release, 363 inmates, including 21 women prisoners, from central prisons and special prisons across the state, appeared for the Class 10 board examinations. Of the 349 who passed, 20 were women prisoners.

Among the prisons, the central prison in Madurai, Cuddalore, Coimbatore, Palayamkottai and Chennai (Central Prison-II), along with the special prison for women in Chennai, Vellore, Madurai and Coimbatore, and the district jail in Pudukkottai, recorded 100% pass percentage.

The highest number of candidates appeared from the central prison, Tiruchy, where 85 out of the 86 inmates who took the examinations passed. This was followed by the central prison, Madurai, where all 53 inmates cleared the examinations, and Chennai Central Prison-I, where 40 out of the 42 inmates who took the examinations passed.

B Vigneshwaran (38), an inmate of the central prison, Palayamkottai, secured the top rank among prison inmates by scoring 445 out of 500 marks. I Arockiya Jeen, also from the same prison, secured the second rank with 444 marks, while B Jayalakshmi from the Special Prison for Women, Chennai, secured the third rank with 417 marks.

The school education department had arranged examination centres inside the prisons following requests from the prison department.

Elementary schools with qualified teachers are functioning in all central prisons, special prisons for women and the district jail in Pudukkottai, the release added.