UTTAR PRADESH: Hey might have committed a crime as gruesome as murder either in a huff or in other compelling circumstances, but now the nine undertrials in Naini Central Jail of Prayagraj have taken up one of the noblest causes of educating fellow inmates as the mission of their life irrespective of their legal fate.
Aided by three government-appointed teachers, these nine undertrials hold classes twice daily between 9 am and 11 am and again between 2 pm and 4 pm inside the prison. The study material is provided by jail authorities. At present, there are 717 inmates going through various levels of learning – from class 5 to post-graduation. The 124 inmates who are illiterate have also just started their journey towards literacy inside this historic prison.
Now it has nearly 4,600 prisoners housed under five circles. Circles 1 and 4 are for undertrials, while 2 and 4 are for convicts. Another circle child circle is for those who are below 20. Each circle has its own facilities and school.
Now 841 inmates of the Naini Central Jail are utilizing their stay to make their life more meaningful through education. The initiative to educate the inmates with the involvement of undertrials was actually floated by Jairaj Singh, 32, accused of killing his neighbour with whom he had a land dispute at his native place Karchhana, in Prayagraj. Claiming that he was deceitfully framed in the case resulting in his incarceration in Naini Jail for the last seven years, Jairaj has got double PG degrees.
Before landing in Naini jail, he had been preparing for the civil services examinations. “In jail, I found many inmates wanted to complete their graduation and post-graduation,” says Jairaj, adding that the inmates’ desire to learn made him to chalk out a plan for teaching them and he discussed it with jail authorities who agreed to it readily.
Similarly, Ajay Tiwari, 37, another ‘IAS-aspirant’ and a double MA in English and Hindi, is lodged in Naini jail for the last 16 years. A resident of Kanpur, Ajay is accused of killing a man of his colony. He joined hands with Jairaj five years ago and started teaching the nitty-gritty of languages to senior students.
“One realises the significance of education inside the jail more than anywhere else. I too realized it here and took steps to educate those willing to pursue their graduation, post-graduation or diploma courses through distance learning,” Tiwari says.
A school with three teachers was already being run inside the jail. Jairaj started his special class not only to teach the inmates but also help them fill forms and get course materials for IGNOU. Soon, he was joined by Ajay Tiwari and seven others including Ravi Dubey, Dharmendra Sharma, Mohammad Omar, Roshan Raj, Hari Om Shukla, Ashish Kumar and Raja Bhaiyya, all murder accused. While Ravi and Dharmendra teach the inmates who are pursuing higher education, the remaining five are guiding the illiterates like Rajesh Kumar who has never been to school in his life of 46 years but now learning to read the letters from relatives and responding to them as well.
The initiative to teach the inmates by utilizing the skills of nine murder accused started in April 2022 in Circle 1 of the prison. Rajesh Kumar is under the guidance of Ashish Kumar, much younger to him. Ashish, a post-graduate, has been entrusted with transforming 19 inmates. All 19 students of Ashish, a murder accused himself and in Naini jail since 2006, are under trial for various crimes.
In fact, Ashish, a resident of Sultanpur, completed his graduation from jail itself through IGNOU in 2020. Apart from pursuing his own studies, he has taken up the task to make 124 inmates literate. Fond of teaching, he has been informally doing it since 2013.
According to Naini Central jail senior superintendent PN Pandey, of 841 inmates enrolled for classes on jail premises, 124 are illiterate and have started from scratch, 89 are there in classes 5-8 and 628 have got enrolled for graduation, post-graduation and diploma courses.
“Nine well-educated prisoners, accused of murder, have taken up the responsibility of taking regular classes for both illiterate inmates and those pursuing higher education. The initiative has come handy in bringing about positive transformation in the life of inmates as more of them are now willing to invest their prison time into learning,” adds Pandey.
Rameshwar Prasad, the in-charge of education and classes management inside the jail campus, says: “We already had three government teachers, including two women, to teach the inmates. But now since April 2022, nine undertrials have been helping them and jail authorities to regularise classes.”
Moreover, two women teachers, Mamta Devi and Suman Jaiswal, deputed by the state government, visit the jail campus daily to take classes of 89 inmates pursuing their education for classes 5 to 8. They also teach illiterate women inmates.