Project Second Chance is based on the idea that everyone, regardless of background or privilege, should have access to justice.
Uttar Pradesh native Mohit Raj, 36, an MBA finance graduate, remembers his initial impression of Delhi’s Tihar Jail. He was there at the request of IPS Officer Sudhir Yadav, who was Tihar’s then-Director General of Police. The latter was certain that Mohit’s experience would help his strategy to change Tihar’s prison reform systems.
In retrospect, Mohit believes that tragic day established the foundation for the remainder of his career; it was the birth of “Project Second Chance,” a civil initiative in New Delhi that is rethinking India’s jails. Mohit conducted a needs assessment in the jail quarters over the course of the following several months. He was watching the prisoners when he wasn’t talking to them.
During those three months, Mohit came to the realization that the affluent had the right to obtain justice. He founded Project Second Chance in 2017 with Saanchi Marwaha (36), Eleena Jeorge (30), and the intention to reframe this.
More than 11,500 inmates have been affected so far; more than 150 of them were encouraged to sit for board exams through NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling), and an additional 60 were given jobs after being released from prison.
It’s an interesting digression about Mohit, who was once a young adolescent with aspirations of becoming a banker clouding his mind. This is his tale.
“You don’t attend school?” Mohit questioned the two siblings’ eldest, Ajay. According to what Ajay told him, he had never attended school. He never had the chance to study in Madhya Pradesh, as his family had moved to Delhi. “I’m not going to school now,” he shrugged.
Mohit and Saanchi found that Delhi schools would only accept Ajay if his academic proficiency equaled that of other kids his age. In order to prepare Ajay for school, the best friends set out to tackle a new task: making sure he was ready.
Over 100 pupils, who were the children of migrant laborers who had never attended formal schooling, attended the community project that began with educating the 10-year-old on the grounds of a nearby temple in the evenings. Actually, 80 of them passed the admission exam and were accepted into Delhi’s schools after being found to be capable.
Ajay, on the other hand, graduated and continued his studies in chartered accounting after passing his Class 10 examinations. He now plays a crucial role in Project Second Chance. Mohit informs me that he can actually hear his narrative being told to me and that he is grinning in the adjacent room.
Because of the success of their tutoring endeavor, Mohit and Saanchi were forced to go to the source of the issue, which was tribal areas on the outskirts of society where education was discouraged. Under their recently established non-profit organization, “Turn Your Concern Into Action” (TYCIA), they started establishing tutoring centers in these locations. These societies have been at odds with the law for years; the dispute stemmed from anti-tribal laws in Britain. However, interacting with the communities at the local level exposed them to the other viewpoint.
Rethinking prison reform in India
One may argue that Project Second Chance was an initiative that was inspired by observation.
Eleena’s first interviews with male detainees at Tihar Jail, who revealed that they felt “cheated and discriminated against by the criminal justice system,” highlight this. She discovered that “they were all trying to find ways to be more productive with their time.” They desired to feel free in some way. They just wanted to feel heard, above everything else.
Despite their extensive knowledge of the inmates’ issues, the three of them acknowledge that, as “outsiders,” they were only partially able to understand the depth of suffering that prisoners endure. “Just one person
Ustice doesn’t have to be biased.
The words “A nation’s progress can be accessed from how it treats its lowest citizens” came to mind for Saanchi when she entered Tihar Jail. “I saw the important role of power hierarchies,” she continues. It became evident that circumstances, exposure, finances, education, and functional family structures are frequently the main factors separating people in jail from those outside.
She noted that the incident highlights how privilege is a dynamic concept. In order to force society to “address power imbalances and do everything it can to create a fairer, more equitable system,” Saanchi left that day with the intention of doing something.
Eleena, Saanchi, and Mohit are proud of their model today.
This comprises the following:
a full-time, 24-month fellowship program that focuses on creating high-quality interventions in prisons through education and life skills courses.
Project Rihai is a crowdsourcing website designed to release formerly incarcerated individuals who lack the funds to post bail.
Through in-depth seminars and sessions conducted inside prisons and communities, Project Unlearn is a context-based education and life skills intervention led by young men in jail with the goal of eradicating gender-based violence and criminality.
UTurn: A secure area inside the jail where inmates may express themselves and start conversations about issues including substance abuse and sexuality.
