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Life through the lens of Tihar's first female jailor

Anju Mangla is in-charge of up to 900 inmates in jail number seven at India's largest prison

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"These boys have abundant energy. They think the world doesn't understand them, but they are quite immature," says Anju Mangla. "One just has to talk to them. Over and over again. That makes all the difference."

It doesn't matter that most women would have reservations about interacting with "these boys" that Mangla refers to. She is confident about taking this approach and walks the talk. She spends a better part of her day, which starts at 9.45am, talking to "these boys" i.e inmates lodged at jail number seven in west Delhi's Tihar Prison, India's largest prison complex. The 18 to 21-year-olds, about 900 of them, have been put behind bars for various offences: theft, burglary, drug abuse, murder and even rape. Mangla, the superintendent of police, the first woman to be in-charge of an all-male prison, is nonplussed. "I just talk to them," says the mother of two, admitting that it's far from easy to get the inmates to listen. "If you say the same thing five times, chances are they will end up listening two times."

Mangla says she tries to understand the reasons that landed these men behind bars, and accordingly try to help them. "I've come to realise that most of them come from the lower economic starta. There's little family bonding and most have received minimal education. As a result of these factors, they don't have guidance and are easily led astray," she says, adding that "the younger ones take time to open up".

The solution, she says confidently, lies in consistently engaging them in conversations, imparting education and channelising their energy. "Giving them education is very important. And letting them express themselves through theatre and street plays works well too," says Mangla, a science graduate, who worked in a bank before joining the police force nearly two decades ago. "On one occasion, I asked the inmates to create a mock parliament and pass a bill. They asked me to provide them with content and material to learn about how our parliament works, and eventually surprised us with their performance. In the play, they passed a bill to protect women and children. Through this exercise, they learnt how our democracy works."

Pen it down

Given that most inmates don't enjoy strong relationships, Mangla encourages them to express themselves by writing letters to her. "Their letters directly come to me, and so in this manner, they find it easier to approach me. They know that whether they have any problem or want to share their joy, they can write to me," says the calm and composed officer, who was earlier in-charge of women inmates in jail number six. It was with the women inmates that she mastered the technique of therapeutic letter writing.

"In one of the letters, a woman prisoner wrote that she often wondered why her sister-in-law had squealed on her, which had lead to her arrest in a dowry case, but that she would now like to thank the same sister-in-law for it was because of her that this woman had landed up in prison and received schooling and was able to teach other prisoners," recalls Mangla. "Women are more emotional than young adults, and need to be handled with a lot of care. It was easy for me to build a rapport with them."

Baby steps to change

The strict and in-command jailor believes that it is this inherently caring nature that helps her play an important role in the life of prisoners, especially the current lot she is in charge of. "These adolescents have experienced a severe lack of affection, which leads to a void. While a male superintendent may have heard them out, women are more attuned to catch on to emotional disturbances and put others at ease with their caring nature," says Mangla, who wants to bring a change in offenders' life. "We try our best to ensure that all of them gain skills and tools that will help to rehabilitate them. I want them all to lead a better life after leaving the prison."

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