Around 4,000 inmates at the Bangalore Central Jail can literally have a go at the mouse -- thanks to a new computer training centre set up in the prison.

The centre set up by the global technology company, Intel, is part of its social initiatives directed at building up community and spreading computer literacy in India.

The training centre has of 10 desktop computers containing preloaded software and a printer and 20 sets of a specifically developed technology curriculum for both basic computer skills and other job oriented skills.

The curriculum aims at imparting of computer skills from scratch and moving on to more advanced skills related to desktop publishing, animation, accounting and other job oriented skills, according to Stacy J Smith, Chief Information Officer, Intel Corporation.

"The aim was to provide inmates vocational training which they can use after their release. It is an attempt to integrate them into the mainstream," Karnataka's Director General of Police B S Sial said while inaugurating the centre.

"We do not want prisons to be centres for breeding crime but as a correction centre", he said.

"One of the women inmates is a software engineer, convicted in a case of kidnapping and extortion, and her services have been utilised to train some of the inmates," Sial said.

"The training would first be imparted to jail officials who can then train inmates," he said.

The jail authorities also plans to enlist the support of other IT players to extend their expertise to the prisoners.