When Lakshman, 28 (name changed on request), walked out of prison after seven years, one of the first things he had to learn was how to use a smartphone.
WhatsApp, digital payments and the many everyday functions of a phone were unfamiliar to him. “I felt like I was a decade behind the world,” he recalled. At times, the pace of life outside was so overwhelming that he wondered whether it might have been easier to remain inside.
His experience captures a less visible consequence of imprisonment: a sentence may end on paper, but reintegration can take much longer. For many former prisoners, education has offered a way to rebuild their lives after release. It has opened up opportunities for work, helping overcome stigma and, in some cases, giving them the means to return to the prison system to help those still behind bars.
Mr. Lakshman was convicted in a murder case in 2015 and remained in Tihar prison until 2022. His father had died in 2013, and his family was already struggling financially. In prison, he began working in the canteen, earning ₹85 a day after six months, and started sending part of his earnings home to support his sister.
The years in prison exposed him to the psychological toll of incarceration. He saw fellow prisoners die by suicide and said the loneliness of the night could make it difficult to process emotions. “The thought crossed my mind too,” he said, but work and education helped him stay focused.
He completed Class 12 and began pursuing a BA while in prison. When he learnt about BetterLife Prison School, a programme offering functional literacy and foundational education, he enrolled there as well.
Today, Mr. Lakshman works as a field lead with Project Second Chance, an initiative of the TYCIA Foundation focused on education, mental health support, life skills and legal assistance for prisoners. His work includes gender sensitisation among young inmates convicted of crimes against women, mental health counselling and legal support for released prisoners across Delhi, Uttarakhand and Haryana.
“My life’s purpose changed. I dreamt of becoming a police officer or joining the Army, but after my jail term, I wanted to become a social worker. I don’t want anyone to face what I faced,” he said.
A sister’s promise
For Karan Kumar, 27, education became a way to rebuild his life after prison.
He was 18 and preparing for his Class 12 examination while pursuing a course in graphic and 3D animation when a fight between students at his school left another boy seriously injured. Mr. Kumar was sent to Tihar in connection with the case in June 2017. The boy later succumbed to his injuries, and Mr. Kumar remained in prison until his release in April 2025, though he was granted short periods of bail, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. His case is currently closed, with no court dates pending.
His elder sister’s response became a turning point. During his first Raksha Bandhan in prison, his sister told him she would become a lawyer so she could help people like her brother. She eventually became a lawyer and is practising in the Delhi High Court. “My takeaway was, if my sister can be so affected by my experience and make it into something positive, why can’t I?” Mr. Kumar said.
In 2018, he completed Class 12 and subsequently pursued a BA from Delhi University alongside a Bachelor of Social Work. He also worked with the prison legal cell, where he learnt to draft bail petitions and RTI replies and underwent para legal volunteer training.
Today, he works with the Kunji helpline and Project ALT (Access to Legal Aid Through Tech), providing legal support to inmates and their families.
After securing bail, Mr. Kumar had to stay with his sister for nearly a year instead of returning home. The stigma attached to being a released prisoner, he said, can come not only from society but also from within one’s own family.
A second life
For Jeevan Waghmare, 44, education became the bridge from prison to a career helping others navigate the legal system.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005 along with five other members of his family following a murder arising from a property dispute, Mr. Waghmare resumed his studies in prison. He completed a BA in History, followed by postgraduate degrees in sociology and history through Maharashtra’s prison distance-learning programme, and a postgraduate diploma in human rights from the Indian Institute of Human Rights in New Delhi.
He also taught history and sociology to fellow prisoners and helped inmates who could not afford lawyers draft applications for bail, parole and other legal relief.
After his release in 2022, he became a practising lawyer, assisting prisoners in navigating the legal system.
Mr. Waghmare said his experience convinced him that prisons needed to give greater emphasis to education, mental health support, skills and post-release assistance. “Once a person realises that they made a mistake, at least 80-90% want to improve themselves. But we continue to treat them as criminals, and then change becomes hard to achieve,” he said.
Published – August 24, 2026 01:31 am IST
